


Danny Phantom: The Alternate Reality

by DarkWarriorProgram (KoolKat_SuperStar_DareDevil)



Series: Balance Beam [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Child Abuse, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Violence, Multi, Other, Rape, Sexual Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-21 00:12:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/893542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoolKat_SuperStar_DareDevil/pseuds/DarkWarriorProgram
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twins Daniel and Danielle Fenton have only known pain ever since their mom died bringing them into the world, and their father is determined to take them out of it. Will they ever be free of this life? Or will the pain slowly kill them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

***Danielle***

“Come on you guys, you said it didn’t work.”  
“But how will going inside of it help, Sam?”

“I don’t know. But it’s not like you can break it.” Sam crossed her arms and looked at us. I looked at my twin and he looked at me. _She has a point Dan. It’s not like daddy dearest will be mad at us for making it work._ **But it’s not like he’ll be happy with us either…** _You have a point there. But maybe we can finally be free._ **Fine. Let’s do it.** We walked over to the closet and grabbed out two HAZMAT suits. We slipped them on. Sam and Tucker started laughing at us. “Mind telling us what’s so funny?” We spoke at the same time, our voices perfectly in sync. Sam walked up to us and pulled off a sticker of our dad’s face. “You can’t walk around with that on your chest. Use this instead.” She then continued to walk over to the closet where there were 3 suits left hanging. Taking one of them down she grabbed scissors off the table and cut out what looked like a P inside of a flaming D. “There that’s better.” Tucker looked at the symbol that was now on our chests. “What does it mean?” Sam shrugged her shoulders and swung her bag off her shoulder. Pulling out her camera she took a picture of us before we could protest. “Sam! What was that for?”  
“You know we hate flashing lights.” I rubbed my eyes as everything came back into focus. We walked toward to portal and looked around inside. “There. Happy now, Sam? We walked in the portal. I leaned my hand on the wall and suddenly a searing pain ripped through us both. I couldn’t tell if I was in pain or if I was feeling Danny’s. When the screaming stopped I felt an eerie silence in my mind. Looking to my left I saw Danny lying on the ground not moving and not breathing. “DANNY!! DANNY, GET UP!! GET UP, DANNY, COME ON!! THIS ISN’T FUNNY!!! Please, please, please get up….” My voice trailed off as I started crying. Broken sobs coming from my mouth as Sam and Tucker rushed over. I saw their lips moving but I didn’t hear a thing. I bowed my head and the tears flowed freely. Sam pulled me away from him. As I struggled against her grip I saw Tucker pulling Danny out of the now active portal. I saw them speaking again but all I heard was a ringing in my ears. Sam and Tucker rushed up stairs, either to find our older sister Jazz or to call an ambulance. I crawled over to him and put my head on his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I repeated the mantra until the tears stopped flowing. I pressed my lips to his forehead in a final good-bye. I felt like my heart was being torn in two and a bright, white light flashed across the room. Pain flooded through me and I heard Danny take a breath. Before I could even think I hugged him and the pain cracked like lightning through us. Totally exhausted I felt darkness threaten to consume me. I fought to keep conscious but failed. Right before I was totally gone I thought I saw Danny in a black HAZMAT suit.

 

**#1 month later#**

 

Walking through the halls of the school with Sam, Tucker and Danny I never felt happier. None of us have fully recovered from what happened a month ago in our basement but we were getting there. “I’m telling you Danny you weren’t breathing, dude!” Danny still didn’t believe Tucker when he said he died. Honestly I would be sceptical also. I mean Tucker hasn’t exactly made a very convincing argument; yet at least. I finally pieced together what happened that day. One thing was certain though: Danny was dead. Only somehow I brought him back to life. From what I can figure out I gave him half of my life-energy, but it effectively half killed me also. Now we have all the powers of a ghost and a cool ghost form. Our ghost form was basically just our human form’s inverse. Instead of a white HAZMAT suit it was now black with white gloves, a white collar and that cool flaming DP symbol Sam made. Our ghost alter egos were dubbed Danny and Dani Phantom by Tucker. So far we’ve got the flying mastered, invisibility and intangibility on the other hand we still need to work on. “I’m telling you Tucker it’s been a whole damn month since the accident and I’m still here. I didn’t die Tucker. I’m pretty sure I would have known if I died. Besides if I was a ghost I wouldn’t be having so many problems with these powers.”

“Uh… Danny…” Sam pointed to the ground and both of us suddenly realized that we were literally waist deep in the ground. We yelped as Sam and Tucker pulled us out. Solidifying ourselves we went off to our first period English. Our teacher Mr. Lancer is a total asshole, he only ever cares about getting paid ‘under the table’ by some of the A-listers in the place of a detention or something. “Foley! Manson! Fentons! You’re all late. I will see you in detention after school today. Now take your seats.” A look of terror took over for a second as we realized we’d be in trouble after school. Well more trouble than usual. Walking to our assigned seats in the middle we tried to listen to the lesson but all we could think of was how to explain this to our dad.

 

As lunch came around Sam was going on about how she hanged the menu to vegetarian. As we looked down at our grass on a bun with dirt sauce a chill swept over us and a red speckled blue mist came out of our mouths. Looking around we spotted a green skinned, gray haired woman in the school kitchen. “FEN-TON!!” We looked at each other “Oh no…” Dash, Casper High’s star quarterback and bully threw mud at my brother’s head. “I ordered three mud-pies. Do you know what they gave me? **Three mud-pies! With MUD! FROM THE GROUND!** All because of _your_ girlfriend!” Sam looked at Dash. “I’m not his girlfriend.” Dash grabbed Danny’s shirt and lifted him almost a foot off the ground. “These are the best damn years of my life! After high school it’s all downhill for me. How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating fucking MUD?!” Dash threw Danny on the ground and a sharp pain shot up our backs from the impact. Dash shoved a plate of the mud pie on his lap. “Eat it. ALL of it.” He looked at the plate and then back to the kitchen. “Uhh… Uhh… GARBAGE FIGHT!” He threw the plate of mud right in Dash’s face. He dropped to the ground and we crawled toward the kitchen as chaos ensued in the cafeteria. “YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS FENTON!!!” Danny dead panned as we entered the kitchen brushing off I heard him mutter. “Great, I’m still his favorite.”

“Hello children. Can you help me? Today's lunch is meatloaf, but I can’t seem to find the meatloaf.” The ghost looked around and then turned back to us. “Did someone change the menu?” Sam and Tucker looked at each other than to us. “Yeah. She did.” He pointed a thumb and Sam. Her hair erupted in flames and she started yelling. “YOU CHANGED THE MENU!” She shot a blast at Sam. “THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR FIFTY YEARS, YOU LITTLE BITCH!!” Without another thought we pushed Sam and Tucker behind us as we changed to our ghost forms. The ice blue ring of light started at our waists and split in two; one travelling up and the other travelling down. Our hair changed to its snow white counterpart and our eyes to a glowing, toxic green. “I command you to… go away.” I looked over at my brother at the same time the ghost did. Both of our expressions somewhere between the lines of ‘did you really think that would work?’ and ‘you have got to be fucking kidding me’. Dishes rattled as the dead Lunch Lady controlled them. Dishes flew everywhere and we turned intangible. The dishes passed through us and hit the wall, shattering upon impact. “I control lunch!” Dishes. “Lunch is sacred” More Dishes. “Lunch has **RULES!** ” Suddenly she changed back to normal and held out a plate. “Anybody want cake?” Sam and Tucker just nodded while Danny and I were fighting off various things form the kitchen. “TOO BAD! CHILDREN WHO CHANGE _MY_ MENU DO NOT GET DESSERT!!” She turned intangible and flew through the roof, leaving us with three flaming, pissed off stoves headed right for us. I grabbed Sam as Tucker was grabbed by Danny. We turned intangible and landed in the hall way of the school. “Hey it worked!” We transformed back and high fived just as some of the lockers went haywire. In the chaos I heard Sam scream. I looked around frantically trying to find where her scream emitted from. As the papers and textbooks all fell to the ground we looked around to find Sam missing. The three of us were dragged to Mr. Lancer’s office because apparently Dash had ratted on us. Sitting in Lancer’s office we saw the console of security tapes. Quickly we crowed around them looking for a trace of Sam. On the basement cam we saw what looked like a trail of meat. Transforming to our ghost halves we grabbed tucker and phased through the floor. As we entered the basement Tucker started drooling. “Sweet mother of mutton! I’ve dreamed of it but I never thought I’d see it!” He ran away from where we stood and started hugging the wall. We looked at Tucker and sighed, our minds in sync we again spoke at the same time. “How is it _we’re_ half dead and _you’re_ the weird kid?” Cackling was heard from nearby and we looked around a corner of highly stacked boxes to see Sam in a pile of meat and the Lunch Lady offering her a cookie. When Sam refused, she once again showed she was bipolar as her hair flamed and she yelled at Sam. “THEN PERISH!!!” Danny flew out of our hiding spot and shot a blast at her. “The only thing with an expiration date here is you!” I shot another blast at her making her run. The Lunch Lady phased through the wall, taking all the meat with her as Tucker bit down on a now empty fork. “Oh man.”

“Well what do we do now?”

“Go home I guess.” Sam still picking meat off her clothes started walking away without waiting for an answer from any of us. Tucker ran after her but Danny and I stayed behind. “We should go home now Elle. Dad’ll be livid by now.”

“I guess your right…”

The short walk home felt like hours. We reached FentonWorks only minutes after we left the school grounds. As the old brick building grew closer we started walking slower. As soon as the door closed we felt a hand across our face. “You were supposed to be home hours ago!!” he grabbed our arms and dragged us upstairs. Jazz poked her head out of her room with a knowing and depressed look on her face. She turned he eyes from us as the tears began and went back to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. “I told you to come straight home! You always come straight home!” A fist connected with my stomach doubling me over in pain. I heard the click of the hand cuffs as I was attached to the wall my hands cuffed behind my back and the cuffs behind the metal bar that ran around the door frame of the room. I struggled against the cold metal futilely. Jack punched Danny in the chest. He collapsed to the floor and was kicked in the back. Pain shot through the both of us, but if we screamed it would only be more severe. I bit my tongue and the coppery liquid mix of blood and ectoplasm flowed over my mouth. A crack sounded through the almost empty room as Danny’s wrist was snapped. I yelped at the sudden pain. Jack grabbed Danny’s broken wrist and dragged him over to me. Jack undid the cuffs and switched mine and Danny’s position. A gloved fist connected with my face as my nose started bleeding from the impact. “You don’t make any noise! EVER!” With each word a foot or fist would hit me. My arm was throbbing from Danny’s wrist and my defensive wounds. Another fist hit my chest and I fell to the floor panting. Jack’s foot kicked me in the chest and I heard a crack. He let Danny out of the handcuffs and then walked out of the room. Jazz came in not long after and wrapped our wounds. She originally wanted to be a child psychologist but she’s also studying nursing on the side. Danny’s wrist was put in a thick, itchy bandage that you usually find under a cast. Jazz wanted to put a cast on also but we refused, arguing that it would only be more suspicious. She wrapped the same thing around my upper torso. From what she could tell it wasn’t broken all the way through but I would have to take it easy for a few days. Jazz left and we went to our closet to grab some pillows and blankets. Jazz entered the room minutes after she left. “Here. Take these. They’re a little strong for your height and weight but they should help you sleep.” Without another word she set a tray down on the desk in the corner of the room. We mumbled our thanks to her as she left and we took the pills without another thought. The mattresses in the opposite corner of the room were old and dirty. The two twin mattresses were pushed together in a way that made them look like one mattress. We curled up into the corner of the mattress and fell asleep.

 

“WAKE UP! YOU FUCKS HAVE SCHOOL!” The door swung open and hit the metal bars. We threw the blankets off and got dressed. Danny had on his usual white shirt with red lining and a red oval on his chest. He also wore a black fingerless glove on his right hand to hide the bandage on his wrist. I wore a camouflage T-shirt with an electric blue mid drift that kept my bandages in place due to it being small. We both had on a pair of faded blue jeans and a black leather jacket. We walked down stairs where Jazz was cooking scrambled eggs for her and Jack. She looked at us with barely masked concern. We gave a slight nod telling her we were fine. Well at least as good as we could be. “Jazmin leave the stove on.” She looked like she wanted to protest but one look at Danny’s wrist stopped her from saying anything. “Yes daddy. And remember to go down to the lab to fix your Ghost Gabber.” She put her plate in the sink and washed it. I knew Jazz was trying to stall him long enough for school time to come around. When Jazz went up to her room Jack walked over to us. He grabbed us by our shirt collars and towed us over to the stove. “Now would you like to explain why you were late?” It wasn’t a question but rather him telling us to give him a reason to use the stove. “Well?” When we wouldn’t say anything he grabbed me by the collar again and forced my face toward the burner. My hands were put on either side of the burner, but far enough away that I would burn myself. “I’m only going to ask you once more. Where. Were. You?” With each word he pushed my face closer and closer. “Stop! We were in detention!” Danny’s voice was filled with panic. _REALLY?!?! YOU HAD TO TELL HIM!!!_ **Sorry… I wasn’t thinking Elle…** _It’s ok Dan… But you’ll pay too…_ **Yeah that wasn’t the brightest…** I couldn’t reply to him because the next second a searing heat was at my cheek. I bit my tongue again and tasted the copper liquid flow down my throat. After what felt like forever I as allowed up. I jumped away and to the opposite side of the table of Jack. Just then the clock struck 8:30 and he let go of Danny. “Now get out of here.” Without so much as another glace he walked toward the lab door and disappeared into its darkness. We went up to Jazz’s room she opened the door and handed me a jar of white cream. “Rub this on every 2 hours. Now let’s go.” She brushed past us and walked out of the door to her car and drove us all to school. “Hey Danny! Hey Dani!” Sam and Tucker rushed up to us. Taking one look at me her eye widened. “WHAT THE FUCK!? Dani what happened?” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jazz make a stopping motion you’d see in movies. Sam and Tucker just looked at us with sad and wondering eyes. Without another word on it the four of us walked to first period. 


	2. Chapter 2

***Daniel***

We decided to hang out in Lancer’s room until first bell rang. That way he couldn’t DT us for being late. I also couldn’t help but feel guilty about Dani’s cheek. I mean I did after all tell dad. Sam and Tucker were talking to Dani about that ghost yesterday. “So today’s Friday, how’ll you be spending your weekend Dani?” Sam couldn’t take her eyes off Elle’s cheek when she spoke to her. Elle opened her mouth just as the bell rang and we all walked to seats at the back of the class. It was far enough back that we could not pay attention and it was in the corner so none of the A-listers would be there. I started thinking about how much that burner hurt and absent mindedly put my hand to my cheek. Elle and I have been through a lot and we always went through it together. Ever since we were little we had a psychic link. We could feel each other’s emotions when strong enough and we could communicate using, what most people would call telepathy, and we could feel pain whether it was ours or not. I thought back to the first time we discovered that we could feel the other twins’ pain.

 

_**It was the first grade. Dad had gone on another date. He did that every Friday. He still does… He came back around midnight, I knew because we wouldn’t sleep until he was sleeping. Sometimes it meant we didn’t sleep for almost two days. We heard the door slam and heavy footsteps come up the stairs. The bedroom door swung open. Danielle and I bolted up from our beds, at the time we actually had beds. Jazz poked her head from the hallway, probably wondering why Dad was so mad at us. He pulled out handcuffs and put Danielle on the door bars. I was cuffed with my hands behind the headboard of my bed, the cold metal tight against my wrists. I struggled to sit up but failed due to the handcuffs. The tearing of fabric filled the room as Dad tore off the shorts I had on. I struggled harder as the cold air of the room hit my bare legs—** _

 

“Danny!! Geez bro if you’re going to space out at least try to know when the bell rings. Now come on Mrs. Koyta’s class is next.” Upon hearing that Mrs. Koyta was our class I rushed to the next class room. “Ah! Daniel and Danielle, it’s nice of you to finally join us. You can have your seats next to Dash.” We both inwardly groaned and sat down at the canvased easels. “Now today you will draw your worst fear. And don’t try to tell me you don’t have a fear because everyone fears something. Now begin.” Fear? Easy, Jack. I started drawing a room with a small window that allowed minimal light through. The wall opposite of the window was a dark grey with a black ‘monster’ in the corner. I gave the figure glowing blue eyes. The shading on the rest of the room made it look like sunset outside due to the light only being shone right under the window. The rest of the room right next to the window was a light grey. I looked over to peek at Elle’s drawing. It was the same as mine except the room was completely lit and the wall opposite the window had the words ‘If someone cared to look with more than their eyes…’ across the top of it. The rest of the walls had red streaks and spots everywhere. The floor had two huge pools of dark red and in the middle of the room was a knife and handcuffs. “Ok we have 5 minutes left of class. Clean up and remember to leave everything you don’t own here.” The lunch bell rang and the Lunch Lady ghost was serving the food. Since the menu was changed back because no one would eat what was served yesterday. “Hello dearies. Would you like some stew?” Elle and I both took some stew and water. We sat down with Sam and Tucker. “So are you going to tell us why your cheek is all blistered Dani?”

“I wouldn’t bet on that Sam. And don’t you think you can try to talk me into telling you Tucker. It’s nothing that you guys need to worry about.” _Or know about_ **Elle… We should tell them.** _And how do we do that? It’s been going on since first grade! If they haven’t noticed by now then they obviously don’t care all that much about the cuts, bruises, broken bones and whatever the fuck else he’s given us over the years!_ **Shhhhh… I didn’t mean to upset you Elle. I was just saying that maybe they outta know… but you have a point. If they haven’t noticed by now then they aren’t too concerned.** “Hey Danny, Dani.” Jazz walked over to us and sat down right beside Tucker. “So what are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing Jay-Z. Now that you know you can leave.” Elle and I just proved our twinness again. “Man I still find it creepy when you speak the same thing at the same time!” Tucker’s outburst had our table looking at him and us laughing. Our next classes were both with Mr. Foster History and Math. Elle and I grabbed both our binders and sat in the far corner by his random assortment of plants. You could find anything from Aloe Vera to Zalias. I closed my eyes again and thought back to that night.

_**After Dad was done with shorts he went up to my shirt and ran a knife down the center, cutting in cleanly in half. It felt like the room temperature dropped 10 degrees. I struggled against the cuff with all my strength. A gloved hand slapped me across the face. “Struggling will only make it hurt more.” Suddenly pain shot through my lower back as I felt like I was being split in two. I screamed at the top of my lungs as the pain increased with each time the bed rocked and the pain left and returned over and over again until I felt something hot coat my insides. I barely registered Danielle going through the same thing as the pain was more unbearable by the second. After what felt like forever Dad finally left and Jazz came into the room crying and holding us close. That was the day he lost the right to be called our Dad. Dad; funny how now when I look back he never really deserved that title. That night he took the one thing that makes a child innocent; our virginity. We didn’t even figure out what he did until 5 years later in Sex Ed. Ever since that night 7 years ago he’s had his way with us when he can’t pick up a girl, which happens less often than not. We wouldn’t let anyone touch us for weeks after except for Jazz, not even Sam and Tucker. Only our Dad could touch us, and that wasn't like we wanted him to.** _

 

After school Elle and I were in our room when the doorbell rang. “Hello I’m looking for Jack Fenton. Is this the right house?”

“Depends on what you want.” Jazz answered the door and was mouthing off whoever it was. Jazz didn’t like being rude he taught us that anyone who comes looking for him has to state their business. “Dear girl this building has a huge neon sign that says ‘FentonWorks’ on it. Asking was merely a formality. Now may I come in or will I have to wait until Jack comes home?”

“You can come in I guess. Twins! Someone’s here. Come introduce yourselves. By the way my name’s Jazmin, but you can call me Jazz.” We rushed downstairs and found a tallish man with sleek white hair pulled back in a ponytail. He had on a suit and looked like he was going to church, or a funeral. “Hello. I’m Daniel, but please call my Danny.”

“I’m Danielle. You can call me Dani.”

“You go by the same nick name? No matter. I am Vladimir, but you may call me Vlad. It is a pleasure to meet all of you. So where are your mother and father?” Elle looked down at the ground and ran upstairs Jazz following immediately afterward. “Was it something I said?” Vlad looked generally concerned about why Elle just ran off. I crossed my arms over my chest and turned my face away from him. “Our dad’s out hunting ghosts.” I refrained from mentioning mom hoping he would get the hint, however he obviously didn’t get the hint. “And what about your mother?”

“Our mom died giving birth to Danielle and I. Well I better see if she’s ok now.” I walked up the stairs and sent Jazz down to entertain our guest. Not long after Danielle calmed down Jack came home. “Daniel! Danielle!” **That’s our cue.** We walked downstairs. “Yes daddy?” Danielle’s voice was so sweet it could make you sick. “What do you need?” Jack raised his hand to slap us. That’s when Vlad decided to make his presence known. “Jack old friend! It’s good to see you again after all these years.” Jack’s expression changed immediately “Vladdy!! It’s been too long! So how have you been V-man?” Elle and I looked at Jazz who had a similar expression on her face. “Good. It’s nice to know you haven’t changed much in the last twenty years…” **So he disappears for 20 years and then suddenly shows up at our doorstep? Sound fishy to me.** _I have to agree with you Dan. But if this is how Dad acts after being around Vlad for 3 seconds maybe it’s a good thing he’s here._ **I guess you’re right.** “Jazmin start supper honey! Vladdy and I have a lot of catching up to do!” Jazz walking into the kitchen and started on our grand feast. “So Vladdy how have you been?”

“I’ve been good Jack. Although I just heard of the death of Maddie. Why was I not invited to the funeral?”

“I did invite you. But I can’t remember where I sent the invitation…” Jack trailed off thinking about something from almost 15 years ago. “It’s ok Jack. I would just like to visit Maddie one last time…” Vlad trailed off as he looked at the ground. “Dinner’s ready!” Jazz’s voice came from the kitchen. _Wow was that really a half hour?_ **I guess so…** _Wonder what Jazz cooked._ **Well let’s find out.** All five of us sat down at the table and ate what jazz cooked. There was a random assortment of foods from leftovers to garlic toast. After the dinner was finished Jack said good-bye to his friend and left for his date. “If you want to see our mom we can take you there. Danny and I always go on our birthday.” Vlad raised an eyebrow. “Today’s your birthday?” I walked up to them and both of us answered with a “Yeah. It is.”

“Well then Happy Birthday to the both of you. What did your father get you?” Elle looked down at the ground with sad eyes. “He doesn’t get us anything. Our birthday isn’t something to celebrate.”

“Nonsense. How old are you now?”

“15” Jazz’s voice came from behind us. “I couldn’t give this to you earlier because dad was here.” She handed us a small box with a bow wrapped around it. Opening the box Elle and I gasped, inside was two chains each with a scythe on it. Mine also had an icicle on it while Elle’s had a flame. “They’re beautiful!” We both gave Jazz a huge hug and thanked her for the gift. We each grabbed one of Vlad’s hands and dragged him out the door. “So where are we going?”

“You said you wanted to visit mom. Besides we’re due for our annual visit anyway.” The three of us walked to the cemetery. Once inside the gate we walked to the back row where mom’s grave was. On our way here we stopped at the flower shop and bought a white rose, Jazz said it was mom’s favorite. “Here she is.” Elle brushed the colorful leaves off the tombstone so that you could read the words engraved on it.

_ **Madison Jazmin Fenton** _

_ **Wife, Daughter, Sister, Mother and Friend** _

_ **May her soul rest in peace and her memory live on** _

_ **July 28** _ _ **th** _ _ **1983 – September 27** _ _ **th** _ _ **1997** _

_ **Gone but not forgotten** _

 

Elle set the white rose on the grave where her heart would be. “We need you mom. I wish you could see just how much your life affected the people around you…” Elle started crying and I finished our little prayer. “… And may the souls of your loved ones see you again one day. In death or in rebirth.” I bowed my head and let the tears flow freely. We said this every year praying to whatever gods there were that things would get better. I felt a hand on my shoulder as Vlad gave us a comforting hug. Being shown that kind of compassion made us both feel safe around him. All too soon the security of being there with someone who cared had ended. We walked home in silence and went to bed without changing out of our street clothes.

 

The rest of the weekend went by too fast. Before we knew it Vlad had to go back to his home in Wisconsin, turns out he’s loaded!! Elle and I tried to get him to stay longer but the best we could get was a ride to school in a limo. Don’t get me wrong, it was way cool! And the look of the A-listers faces when we stepped out almost made up for Vlad leaving. “Dudes! Who was that?” Tucker’s eyes were as wide as saucers. I smiled at looked at the limo driving away. “Just an old friend.”

“Whatever. Let’s just get to class.” Sam started walking toward the classroom and we entered not long before the bell rang. “Now for the next two weeks we will be doing a class project. Your partners have been set out for you. The list has been written out for you.” Lancer pulled up the screen revealing a list of names. Looking at the black board I saw I was paired with Dash and Dani was with Tucker. We looked at each other with sad looks on our face mixed with a look of terror. You will have to work with your partner on your own time.” We spent the rest of the class talking about parts of speech. In the hallway Dash caught up to me. “Hey Fen-toad. I’m going to your house. See you after school.”

 

The rest of the day went by too fast for liking. Dash followed me and Elle home. Sam was stuck with Valerie's house while Tucker came with us. When we entered FentonWorks our dad gave us a look and we knew what it meant. "Dash, go down to the lab with Tucker. We'll be down in a minute." Jack dragged us into the kitchen. "You didn't tell me you had company coming over." His voice was low and growling. "We're sorry dad. Mr. Lancer gave us an assignment that requires partners." His eyes narrowed to slits and his hand wen across both our cheeks. Elle's already burned cheek made it hurt more. There was no doubt that the sound echoed down in the lab. Dani started toward the basement and I followed close behind. Tucker gave us both a sad look and Dash just gave us a confused look. "Well are we going to start this project or what?"

"We might as well work together because even if we did separate projects they would end up being similar anyway."

"That's a good point Dani. So what do you wanna do?" Tucker looked at all three of us. "I don't care as long as I get an A." Three guesses who that was and the first two don't count. _Techno for Tucker. And something physical for Dash._ I felt her sadness and fear of what will happen after Dash and Tucker left.  **Cheer up. At least they’ll be here awhile…** _That only prolongs the pain…_ “So what do you think of doing a diorama?”

“A die-o what-a?”

“Di-o-ra-ma. It’s like a miniature model of an area that’s much more vast and numerous” Dash gave me a blank look. “A small version of something big.” I told him in a voice that sounded like I was talking to a child, well mentally he was nowhere near 15. Dash glared at me and Tucker smiled. “I like it. But what of?”

“Well we just finished To Kill a Mockingbird so how about we build a model of the house?”

“Or we could do a model of the town.”

“Or we could make the characters.” Elle and I looked at Dash who had a ‘who gives a fuck’ look on his face. “Ok Dash what do you want to do?” Dash looked like he as thinking before he said he wanted to make the house. Time flew by and suddenly it was quarter to ten. “Well we better get going. It was nice of your dad to let us use the lab.” Tucker waved back to us as he walked out the door. Dash simply flicked his hand and left, leaving us all alone with our dad…

 

The night was a blur. I don’t remember anything. We walked to school and our ghost sense went off. Ducking into an alley we changed to our ghost forms and went looking for this ghost. We came upon a ghost with a huge metal suit. “Ah, the ghost children. I am Skulker, the Ghost Zones greatest hunter! Prepare to meet your demise.”

“A hunter… Really? And I thought the Lunch Lady was as pathetic as they got.”

“Don’t put anything past that freaky world. I mean there’s probably a ghost that loves boxes.” I laughed at the thought of that one. A blast was shot at us it hit Elle and slammed her against a brick wall. “Ok that hurt.” Without taking much time to recover she shot a ball of ecto-energy at the hunter. The tin can easily dodged the blast and shot a net at her in retaliation. “DANIELLE, LOOK OUT!!!” I screamed but it was too late. She was trapped in the net and Skulker had dragged her away…

 


	3. Chapter 3

***Danielle***  
As the room came into focus I noticed two things. One: Dan wasn’t anywhere near me. Two: I wasn’t anywhere I knew. “Well it seems the Whelpette has finally woke up.” I whipped my head around to see the self-proclaimed Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter. “Wh-where am I?”   
“You’re in the ghost zone child. And your end is coming.”  _Dan! I need you! Help me please!_  It was a long shot but it might work  **Da…le! Than……ds yo……! …are …u?** _Dan! I can’t hear you! Dan please say you’re okay!_  I didn’t get a reply after that we were too far apart. “No one can save you ghost child. You’re mine now.”   
Time in the Ghost Zone was obviously different. Just in the time I was there I’d seen the sky turn from dark to light and back to dark almost 6 times. As I laid down to get some sleep Skulker pulled on the collar of my HAZMAT suit and dragged me toward what looked like a lab. I was strapped down to the table and Skulker left me alone again. I started thinking about how Danny would cope without me and how Jazz would take being told her only sister was dead. I feared for Jazz knowing that with me gone she would take everything meant for me. I thought about what would happen if I died. Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Danny. Danny would be hit the hardest. It would be like losing his other half. Ever since we were little we’ve been told by teachers, friends, even our enemies that we were like two halves of the same person. If I died would I take my life energy with me? If I died would Danny also cross to the land of the dead like he should have that day down in the lab? With that thought I fought against the restrains. If I wouldn’t fight for me, then I’ll fight for Danny, for his life. A pain rushed through my head and flashes went through. I couldn’t piece anything together. Danny must have been hurt. Sometimes if we weren’t together we would get flashes of what the other twin saw. I fought against the thick metal that pinned me to the equally thick table. By the time I stopped I was out of breath and bleeding from the cuts I made trying to escape. “Now, now you wouldn't want to kill yourself before your brother gets here. Would you ghost child?”  
“Leave him alone you stupid tin can!” I felt something hot run down my leg. I looked down at my leg to see neon green blood run down my leg and drip onto the floor below. “You better sleep Whelpette. It very well could be your last.” An evil glint in his eyes told me that I should sleep with one eye open. He walked into another room and I stared at the roof.  _Dan please say you can hear me... I need you more than ever right now._ I called out one last time only to have the same result as before. I thought about everything in my life good and bad. The good things made my eyes water. I thought about Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and most importantly Danny. Sam was always there for us when we needed her; sure her rebellious nature sometimes got us in trouble. Without Sam we never would have gotten our powers because we wouldn't have gone in. Tucker was always making jokes mostly lame ones but it would always put our mind on something else. Although it was usually slapping him he still tried to lighten he mood. Jazz. My heart felt like a knife was stabbed through it and twisted. Jazz never left our side. Even when we were little she would always be there right after dad was finished with us for the night. She would give us creams and ointments for burns or rashes, wrap broken bones and made sure they healed properly. Jazz even went so far as to her dream of being a child psychologist on hold to take care of us. By now I was crying silently when another face crossed my mind, Vlad. Even though I've only known him for a few days he was still a blessing to me. He cared when even our dad didn't. He saw what our friends were too blind to see. He made Danny and I feel safe. I was brought out of my thoughts as pain spread through my chest like a poison. The pain continued with a strong blow to my left eye. There was no doubt that Danny was back home again; and without me to take half the punishment. Small video clips of what Danny saw went through my mind. I saw Jack raising his fist, ready to strike. I saw the ground as Danny fell. Pain flooded through my back as Danny was kicked. A flash of white as the mattress we called our bed came into view. I felt a cold wind rip through my body as Danny's clothes were torn to shreds. A burning hot pain at my lower back told me that it wasn't ending any time soon. The pain continued to burn and send a white hot fire through my back and legs. My wrists started aching from the mix of the handcuffs on Danny's wrists to the restrains on the table. A hand slapped Danny and then everything went black.   


When I woke up I was back in the cage. My arm groaned in pain as I tried to get up. The cage seemed smaller but then again maybe I'm still half asleep. Pain was shooting through my body and wouldn't stop. Flashes of Dash and darkness went through my mind. I could feel my strength fading and I felt the human part of me become closer and closer as the seconds ticked by. I felt the familiar fire of my ghost form fade and saw the ring of ice form around my waist. I fought the rings and only succeed in completely draining myself of energy. I closed my eyes and saw the world as Danny did at the time. I saw Sam and Tucker down in the lab with him. They were talking about something but I couldn't hear them. I used what strength I had left to give Danny a beacon to follow. I saw him whip his head around toward the portal before darkness consumed my vision.

I was woken up by a sharp pain in my stomach. The force of what ever hit Danny caused us to cough up blood.  _Dan! Please say you can hear me!_ **DANIELLE! Thank the gods you’re alive!! I Couldn't tell what was going on. I'm so glad you’re safe.** A pain on the side of my head stopped me from replying.  _Focus on your battle. Worry about me later._  I could tell he was about to reply but decided against it. I could feel myself getting stronger by the second. I tried phasing out of the cage but it didn't work. Well I didn't really expect it to anyway. “Dani!” I looked to my left where Sam and Tucker were in some strange suits and honestly looked really dumb. They had on a really bad knock-off of our Phantom forms HAZMAT. They also had on what looked like a fish bowl on their heads. They released me and I searched for the fire of my ghost form. The twin rings formed and then split. One going down and the other going up. The black HAZMAT suit and signature P inside of the flaming D. I phased through the roof of what seemed like Skulker’s home. “Whelpette!” He glared at Danny. “You may have won this round Phantom. But the next time we meet it will be the last. Without another he flew off in some random direction and we let for the portal in the basement.

 

At school the next day no one even cared that I wasn't there. I mean I know I'm pretty much invisible but come on! I mean there's never been once when I was without Dan by my side. I guess people just don't care. Or they seriously bought Danny's excuse for me not being there. School went on like normal, English, Art, History, Math and then we go home. At home Jazz almost killed me before I closed the door with her hug. Our ghost sense went off just before Jack got home and we left to find an electronic store under attack. “I TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL THAT IS ELECTONIC AND GLOWING!” Dan and I exchanged a glance and just blasted the wacko scientist into the Fenton Thermos.  **That was easy...** _Almost too easy. Almost._ **I have a bad feeling about this.** A blue escaped our mouths and we turned around to find our old friend Skulker. “Hello Whelps. Now let's finish what he started.” He shot a net at us but this time we were ready and easily flew out of its way. We shot blasts at him and that damaged his weapons. “Dani! Danny!” Looking down at the ground I saw Sam and Tucker. Tuck had his PDA out, go figure. Before anyone registered what happened Skulker had taken Tucker's PDA and repaired his armour. “I man! I still had three payments on that!” Sam smacked him in the back of the head. Skulker then flew off and the four of us were left standing on the sidewalk wondering what just happened.

The next day ended up being more eventful. As we were about to go to History class Skulker decided to show up again. Tucker was using his other PDA and suddenly Skulker's arm beeped. He looked down just as confused as we were. “Time for History?” Without another word Skulker jetted off in some random direction leaving everyone very confused. We changed back and then went to class. “Daniel, Danielle. Can you stay behind for a second?” Sam and Tucker just sat back down as we walked up toward the front of the classroom. “Your grades have dropped dramatically and if you don't do an extra credit assignment then you'll very well fail this class.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“I want you to write an essay on a topic of your choice. Honestly I don't care what it's about. You will have to do in on your own time but I assure you it will have bring up you GPA. And possibly help you pass this class.”

“I'll help you manage your time so you can get it done on time.” Dan turned around and saw Tucker typing away on his PDA. “Very well. Mr. Foley will help you and Ms. Manson can keep you focused. Dismissed” the four of us walked out of the class room and then toward the library. Skulker showed up again when we were outside of school. “Do you ever give up?” I was starting to become seriously pissed off with him. “Hi held his arm out and we were about to transform when his arm beeped again. “Go to the library and check out a book on the turn of the century.” Let’s appeared and Skulker looked just as surprised as we were. He flew off and we continued on our way. “We should go to the museum and find out what we can about how Amity Park was affected. “Tuck I don't think Amity Park was around back then.” Tucker looked depressed and Sam went over to a computer typed something in and then showed us a picture of a gorilla. “You can do it on the purple back gorilla. There's only two left in existence and their both male.”

“Call me crazy but aren't gorilla's asexual?” Dan and I chorused with gained us a look of confusion from them both which was followed by a glare that told us we should shut up. Tucker looked at us “That's plants, bacteria, the hammerhead and blacktip sharks and most types of reptiles.”

“Oh... Are they the hermaphroditic then?” Our voices were laced with confusion and embarrassment.

“No... That's slugs, snails, some types of fish and again plants.”

“Then what are gorillas?” Dan was just as confused as I was. We sort of knew that we were wrong but I guess we didn't know just how much. “Gorillas are mammals, the same as humans-” We cut Sam off.

“But Humans can be hermaphrodites and they can produce asexually can't they?”

“Tucker help me out here! No wonder you two failed biology last year!” After a long explanation, and a lot of stupid question on our part, we finally got biology. Well some of it at least. After what was probably three hours we left for the local zoo which had one of the two remaining purple back gorillas. “Sam can we go. He hasn't done anything but walk around at scratch his ass.”   
“Even I gotta admit Sam this is kind of boring.” Just as Tucker finished his sentence a blue mist escaped my mouth. “It was until now.” We changed into the Phantoms and then phased through the roof of the viewing centre, or whatever the hell it's called. Just like every time we've seen him since he returned the freak's arm beeped and he jetted off looking very annoyed. Just as he left Tucker’s PDA also beeped. “Well we should go home now.” 

“But we didn’t get to study Samson enough!”  
“We would have if the twins knew biology.” Tucker gave us an accusing look and Sam just glared at us. Everyone said their good-byes and then went our separate ways.

 

We were greeted with a bone crushing hug from Jazz and found out that Dad didn’t even bother knowing if we were here. We breathed a sigh of relief and went to sleep. 

_ **Fire was everywhere and screams echoed through the darkness. A really bad guitar riff was heard and the sound waves knocked me back. “r...r…r…r…r” I heard a cheering noise off in the distance and started walking toward it. “Say my name! Say my name!”** _

“ _ **mer…mer…mer…mer…mer” as I got closer the chanting got louder and clearer...**_

My eyes flashed open and I sat up on the mattress. “Elle? What’s wrong?” I shook my head and then tears started to flow. “Elle…” He gave me a hug from where he sat and rested his chin on my left shoulder. I felt his hand go across my eye lids as he wiped away tears. **You know you can tell me anything. You’re never alone. Neither of us ever is, or ever has been.** _I know… I just… don’t know…_ I sent his flashes of my dream. “It as just a dream Elle. Just a dream.” Dan’s voice whispered in my ear and he brought me back down to the mattress for a few more hours of sleep. I didn’t dream of anything. 

 

When we woke up I looked over at the clock on the floor near my head. “SHIT! DAN WAKE UP!” Danny shot up in bed as soon as he heard my voice. “FUCK! WHY DID JAZZ NOT WAKE US UP?!” We pulled on a pair of jeans and raced downstairs putting on our shirts as we went. A note on the door stopped us in our tracks. 

_ Daniel and Danielle, _

_ Dads off visiting Vlad for the day and I know you had a rough night. I called the school and told them you weren’t feeling well. I’ll have Sam and Tucker bring you your homework and I’ll help you out with anything you need. And then later we’ll work on your biology. Sam and Tucker explained to me what happened last night and I thought you deserved some sleep. Dad should be home at 4 but if he shows up early sneak out your window and wait for Sam and Tucker to pass the alley.  _

_ Love, Jazz _

We walked into the kitchen made some tea and went right back to bed. We went up to our room and pulled out the laptops Sam got us for our birthday last year. As soon as mine was turned on and logged in it beeped. 

**FryerTuck: Hey why aren’t you in school?**

**Twinsanity: Jazz let us off the hook for today after last night**

**FryerTuck: Lucky. Lancer has us defining the word ‘the’**

**Twinsanity: So you’re in the computer lab in the back room with the door to your left?**

**FryerTuck: Nice. You are good.**

**MadnessDoubled: Haha. I’m glad I’m not in school now.**

**FryerTuck: Sure laugh it up but you’ll have to do this at home. I think**

**DarkAngell: So Jazz just let you stay home?**

**Twinsanity: Yup!**

**MadnessDoubled: Yup!**

**FryerTuck: I still say its creepy how they do that even on the computer…**

**DarkAngell: Gotta go! Lancer’s coming!**

With that Tucker and Sam logged out of the chat room Tucker made. The rest of the day was boring. We captured Technus again and Skulker was still flying off every time he showed up. Jazz brought home our homework because Sam and Tucker had homework to do. A beeping from my computer told me that they were having just as much trouble and we were.

**DarkAngell: THIS IS GOING TO TAKE FOREVER!**

**FryerTuck: Maybe we can all help each other out.**

**MadnessDoubled: Ok what subject are you guys on?**

**DarkAngell: History**

**FryerTuck: English**

**Twinsanity: We’re on math. Since we’re all on different subject just do that subject**

**MadnessDoubled: And share answers**

**FryerTuck: Sounds good to me. I’m almost done the first page of the history assignment.**

**DarkAngell: I thought you were working on the English assignment?**

**FryerTuck: Yeah I started the history assignment but I couldn’t get questions 3, 4 and 5**

**Twinsanity: Really Tucker? Question 3 is easy. 1843**

**MadnessDoubled: Question 3‘s answer is 1843**

**FryerTuck: That’s Question 2’s answer isn’t it?**

**DarkAngell: No… Question 2 is 1957**

**Twinsanity: Ok we just finished the math assignment!** ****

**FryerTuck: Don’t brag Dani…**

**MadnessDoubled: You’ll have it done also when we tell you the answers.**

**DarkAngell: I just got the history assignment done**

**FryerTuck: I’m almost done the English. I just need help. What part of speech of ‘the’ again?**

**DarkAngell: It’s a conjunction isn’t it?**

**MadnessDoubled: I thought it was a preposition…**

**Twinsanity: I’m pretty sure it’s an adjective…**

**FryerTuck: I thought it was an interjection…**

**Twinsanity: Well we’ll just put down our own answers and find out who’s right.**

**DarkAngell: Well have fun getting it wrong.**

**MadnessDoubled: You’re the one who’s wrong Sam.**

**FryerTuck: You’re both wrong**

**Twinsanity: Honestly I thought it was an adjective. But just because we’re fighting over it none of us are right. XD**

**MadnessDoubled: Probably :/**

**DarkAngell: I’d bet on that.**

**FryerTuck: Yeah… Dani’s probably right about that…**

 


	4. Chapter 4

***Daniel***

 

Turns out that Elle was right about ‘the’ part of speech and Dash decided that we were the reason he failed that assignment and beat us up and shoved us in a locker. Elle and I weren’t let out until the end of the day when the janitor found us. At home it wasn’t much better because not only was Jazz totally into this new singer Ember McLain but Jack was so mad that we were late coming home. A fist connected with my gut and I doubled over in pain and on the ground in seconds. Elle gave me a sad glace but made no move to help me. It would only make it worse for her if she did. Jack punched her on the right side of her face. By now I was up and was getting punched and slapped again. He glared at us before he broke Elle’s ankle by stepping on it. He then walked up the stairs and went into his room. I carried Elle up to our room and got Jazz. She wrapped her ankle the same way she wrapped my wrist; which wasn’t healing that fast because of the damn ghosts always showing up. Jack doesn’t care if we have the computers because he thinks that Jazz got them for us. We still owe her a thank you for covering for us. Tucker also finally figured out what was up with Skulker and now he’s back in the Ghost Zone. We haven’t seen him a day or two. “I AM THE BOX GHOST!! I HAVE POWER OVER ALL THING CARDBOARD AND SQUARE! TASTE MY CORRIGATED CARDBOARD VENGENCE!” Dani and I looked at each other and then she clocked him right in the face. He went flying through a wall and we ended up in a warehouse. “PREPARE TO BE CRUSHED BY THE FORGOTTEN POSETIONS OF-” He turned to the right and read a label on the box, “ELLIOT KLAVITZ FROM ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILLIOS!” The boxes gained a glowing green aura and flew right at us. We turned intangible and let the boxes pass through us. “Can we get this over with?” Elle’s voice was bored and annoyed.

“We have a test to study for.” I finished off the sentence and crossed my arms. Sam and Tucker rushed into the warehouse and sucked him into the thermos. “Ok Dani when was the telephone invented?”

“Ummm… 1745?”

“No.”

“1475?” I answered on my turn.

“No.” Tucker glared at the both of us.

“1903?”

“1764?”

“1845?” Sam shot a look of pity in our direction. “No, no and no.”

“1760?”

“No. Just stop guessing. It was invented in 1876 by?”

I thought for a second. “Benjamin Franklin from Germany, right?”   
“I thought he was from Berlin…”

“You’re both wrong. Danny, Benjamin Franklin invented electricity. Dani, he was from Scotland. I don’t know how you two made it to high school.” I mentally chuckled at that. If only Tucker and Sam knew. **I can’t believe they actually fall for this.** _I know. I mean if they knew we had to hack the school mainframe to change our grade so that we barely pass they’d freak._ **Which reminds me did you change our grades back down to D’s?** _I thought it was your month…_ **Oh shit. Our report cards were mailed yesterday!** _Well this is just perfect._ **Oh yeah. Fucking perfect.** We changed back to our human forms and walked out of the warehouse. The house was eerily quiet when we walked in. “You’re late.” Jack dragged us down to the lab and chained us to the door way. I couldn’t turn my head to see him. I heard him walk around, the banging and clanging of metal old us that he made something while we were gone. He came back into view with, what looked like, a branding pole. The tip was in the shape of an old calligraphic V. I swallowed as the temperature in the room rose while the fireplace in the corner raged with an intensity that raged. The doorbell rang and we stared at the ground as Jack walked back up the stairs. It was probably the mail for some reason the mail in Amity Park was delivered at 8 at night instead of the morning. “You’re free.” He undid the chains without another word and left us in the lab. We walked upstairs to our bedroom and then shifted to our ghost forms for patrol.

 

The next day was more annoying than eventful. “What is up with the Box Ghost today?”

“Well he’s attacked seven times and we’ve sent him back to the Ghost Zone seven times. I think he’s got the message.”

“BEWARE FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST BEHOLD THE LUNCHBOX OF FEAR!” Random foods started spilling out and then a thermos. “Bringing your own thermos to our battles now? You know it would save us both a lot of time if you showed up already in it.” The Box Ghost just glared at me while Elle sucked him up. “You know this kook is starting to get on my nerves.” Tucker raised an eyebrow. “Starting?”

“Shut up Tucker…” We continued on our way to school. In the halls Dash decided to ‘wail on us.’ What we ever did to make him hate us I’ll never know. _Oh, Ember, you will remember! Ember, one thing remains! Oh, Ember, so warm and tender! You will remember my name!_ The song blared from Tucker’s cell phone. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out and ignored whatever set it off. When the four of us walked into the school Sam, Elle and I stopped dead in our tracks. Ember was everywhere. Her poster lined the halls and her face was on everyone’s shirt. The three of us shook our heads and continued on the day like normal.

**DarkAngell: Ok am I the only one who find this whole Ember thing overrated?**

**Twinsanity: Nope**

**MadnessDoubled: I’m with you Sam. We gotta go though**

**Twinsanity: See you tomorrow**

With that Jack burst through the door. Without even caring who heard our screams he tied us down and had his way with us for hours on end.

 

I walked into school the next day with Elle and one look at Tucker and I almost fainted. He had on a bright blue wig with flame-like designs. He also had on heavy black eyeliner with a purple E on his shirt. “Tucker your starting to scare me, and I fight ghost on a daily basis.”

“It’s an Ember thing. You wouldn’t understand.” We decided not ask or even acknowledge its existence. The school decided that our school wasn’t smart enough so these machines were brought in that pretty much programmed your brain. “So what did your report cards look like?” I shrugged. “Could be better.”

“Could be worse.” Elle piped up behind me. Sam sat just in front of Elle and I. As soon as Lancer hit the switch Ember’s voice blared through the helmets. Elle and I couldn’t get them off fast enough and I don’t think Sam even put hers on. Things were pretty good for the rest of class. You know until Ember’s tour bus showed up outside the school. Sam and I held Tucker back and Elle was pushing him backwards. “Must. Have. Ember. Ticks!”

“We’re going to have to reprogram him.” Not much later did Sam come back with a rope and we tied Tucker down in front of one of the brain-thingies. Sam followed Dani and I outside to where the rest of the school was cheering for Ember. “Tell me who you love!!”

“Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember!” The whole school was chanting her name. A chill ran through me as my ghost sense went off. I whipped my head around looking for the ghost. When I couldn’t find the ghost Sam looked very annoyed. My ghost sense once again told me a ghost was near. Then it dawned on me; Ember was the ghost. I looked at her band to see they all had green skin. “Great…” I muttered and shifted into my ghost form. I signaled Elle to stay human and raced toward her. Lancer pushed his way to the front of the crowd and then held up a megaphone to his mouth. “I order you to cease and desist!”

“Desist this grandpa!” Ember strummed her guitar and blue sound waves sent Lancer flying into the air. As much as I wanted to let Lancer hit the ground I had to save him. I grabbed his hand and set him down before he realized what just happened. Ember then announced her concert at midnight and then threw tickets into the crowd. Yeah that’ll go well… I flew back to where Sam and Elle were and then transformed back. Lancer just walked up to us. “Just because the rest of the school isn’t here won’t stop me from giving you an education.” He grabbed Elle and Sam’s wrist, who both grabbed onto me. Sam looked at me and smiled. Turning Sam, Elle and I intangible and we silently slipped out of the school. Elle and I transformed and each grabbed one of Sam’s hands. Just before we took to the skied Lancer’s voice echoed through the school “Lord of the Rings! They’re slipping right threw my hands!” I laughed and muttered to Elle and Sam; saying he didn’t know how literal that was. The three of us took to the skies flying toward the building that had a, rather large, cardboard cut-out of Ember. Underneath it read ‘Bucky’s Music Mega Store.’ I looked down and saw the crowd flooding into the large, circular building. “Are you ok Sam?”

“Huh what? Oh yeah. Fine. Flying’s nice.” Elle and I looked at each other and Sam was looking at the ground so none of us saw the Ember cut-out. We slammed into the cardboard Ember and fell on top of the roof. “Falling stinks.” Grabbing Sam by the arms again we phased into the building to see a crowd probably as big as Amity itself. “I don’t think they’ll love seeing their idol sucked into the Fenton thermos.”   
“I don’t think so either Sam.”

“We need a distraction.” Elle looked at Sam and she sighed. “Yeah, fine. I’ve got a plan.” We dropped her off on the cut-out that was on the right side of the stage. A large red marker appeared from thin air; well at least I didn’t see where she kept it, and she went to work defacing the teen idol’s face. A loud squeaking sound was heard and everyone turned toward Sam and the now defaced Ember. “Hey look its Ember McLAME!”

“Oh great, a critic. Maybe you’ll like my new song better!” She started to strum her guitar but was stopped by Dani who shot two blasts of ecto-plasmic rays at her. “Do you take requests?”

“How about ‘beat it?’” Ember looked pissed. “How about I lay down a few power cords instead, Dipsticks!” With a strum of her guitar a green ray of skulls shot at us, knocking us a few feet back when it hit. She then laughed like one of those cartoon villains and teleported away in a swirl of blue fire. I scanned the room before I was pulled upwards by my sister. We flew through the roof and found Ember standing there, waiting for us. The fight was short lived because I figured out half way through the battle that the crowd’s chanting of her name only made her stronger. Elle and I were almost put under a love spell. Elle wasn’t affected because there wasn’t anyone around she would fall in love with, and the same went for me. Don’t get me wrong I loved Sam but in the same way I love Danielle. The spell didn’t have any effect on us which made Ember seriously mad. She shot a blast of music at us and caused the cut-out of her to fall off the building, and completely drain our ghost forms for the moment. Sirens wailed from the ground below and armored cars came from all directions. Lancer was blaring on about a grounding thing the hall passed for the night, and our parents. We were thrown into one of the many cars and then driven to our home. We were literally thrown through the door by the cops. Jack just glared Jazz and sent her to her room. Not a word about punishment of anything. Dani looked at me and we started down to the lab; knowing that he would use that branding pole from earlier. We were tied in the same spot as before. The pole was ready for us and it was placed on Danielle’s left shoulder. The pain seared through her as it did with mine. I felt the pain subside as the pole was removed. In minutes I would have the same thing happen. I wanted to phase through the handcuffs and comfort her. I felt helpless as all I could do right now was sit there and watch her cry. The pole being thrust against my skin in the same general place Dani had the pole placed. I smelled burning skin as the hot metal burned through my shoulder. Time passed slowly every second that passed with the metal searing my skin felt like hours. As the pain died down the hissing of cooling metal sounded in the room and cooled the metal down as Jack left us in the lab. I winced at the pain moving my shoulder brought. I looked at the ghost portal to see a girl that looked like a gypsy float out. “Hello children. What do you wish for? I will grant you each one wish.” I turned my head away from her as much as I could. I dared to glance up when she just stared at us. With sad eyes she turned and went back into the ghost zone leaving us alone again.

Jazz came down into the lab almost a half an hour later and finally untied us when she realized we weren’t in our room. By then we were so tired we just floated up to our room and wished for sleep to take us; it never did, not like I expected life to throw us a bone now. Twin sets of rings appeared around our waists and travelled along our body turning our street clothes into a black HAZMAT suit and our scythe necklaces had taken on an icy fire look to them. The scythes glowed a toxic green and then disappeared off the chain. I held out my hand to Dani when an ice like substance started forming. I took my hand back in shock and then flew off to the midnight concert that Jazz no doubt snuck out to see.

 

We phased into Sam’s room where she was studying for the test tomorrow. “We need your help, Sam. Ember’s concert is going live in 5 hours and we’ve gotta stop her.” Sam turned around and looked at me. “Have you thought about asking Tucker?” It took all of 3 seconds for it to sink in “TUCKER!” I grabbed Sam and we flew to the school as fast as we could. I walked into Lancer’s classroom with the girls following close behind. “12. Hours. Of. Intensive Standardized Test Prep.” I felt really bad about leaving him there for 12 hours straight and apparently so did Sam as she kept apologizing and Dani looked like she was about to cry. Tucker ushered the three of us out and we went off to the concert. “Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember!” The chanting got louder the closer we got to the music store. We snuck backstage through the entrance outside where the guard was sleeping soundly with a box of donuts under his chair. I shook my head and then we went intangible through the door. “Ok Tucker just cut the power and we’ll do the rest.” He stated flicking switches and then rattled off some formula from the Intense Prep and then Ember along with Dash, Kwan and two other football players. With a snap of her fingers all four of them had the four of us captured. “Later Dipsticks. I gotta go rock my world. And when I say my world, I mean MY WORLD!”

“HELLO AMITY PARK!! TELL ME WHO YOU LOVE!” The crowd responded on cue. “Ember McLain! Ember McLain! Ember McLain!” Ember’s hair flared up even more at their chanting. I was mad because I couldn’t phase and I couldn’t fight back. My eyes stung like I had them open too long and the ice-blue color was replaced by a neon green. I blinked away the color and then out of the corner of my eye I saw Dani kiss Kwan. “Ah! She tasted like geek!”  
“EW! He tasted like failure!” All the football players ran like a monster was chasing them. My eyes flashed green again and I switched to my ghost form. I tackled Ember and she went flying. “Mind if I jam with the band?”   
“Sorry. I don’t do duets!” Her guitar was strummed and a fist came flying at me. I was hit back and then Elle hit her from behind. She picked up the microphone as Ember was about to sing. “No vocals in this song.” Ember swung her guitar at her but was blocked by the pole. I went to attack but Ember flew out of the way and she trapped us both in a magenta vortex and laughed. “You can’t beat me. Not with the whole world chanting my name!” I think she can control when her hair flares up because it flared just as she finished her sentence. “We need some way to break the spell, but how?” Danielle turned me around just as I finished my question and I saw Tucker. I snapped my fingers as I got what she was trying to say. “Tucker! Sing!” Sam looked at me like I was crazy but I gave her a look telling her I had a plan. Tucker looked at me. “I thought you said my singing sucked…”

“He was just kidding, Tucker. You rock!” I shot Tucker a thumbs-up to emphasize Dani’s point. “Your right. I do rock!” Tucker started singing loudly and the whole audience got quiet. The vortex disappeared and things were being thrown at Tucker. “Ok you can stop now.” Sam dragged him off stage and Ember looked at the audience. “Tell me who you love! Tell me who you love!” She fell to her knees and then on her side when she got no response from anyone. “Say my name… Say my name…” She started mumbling like a crazy person and I sucked her into the Fenton Thermos. The crowd as pretty much gone by the time Ember was inside.

 

Lancer was livid. He was complaining about everyone’s test scores on the IST and then excused Tucker from the session of the prep thing. Danielle and I were called up to the office and we knew it was because we didn’t want anyone to know we’re smarter than we pretend to be. All in all it wrapped up nicely. When we got home from school we saw a moving van on its way to the upper side of town.

 


	5. Chapter 5

***Danielle***

 

Spirit Week… Fan-fucking-tastic. I love Casper High as much as the next kid but if you expect me to actually show it, not going to happen. The past seven days have been absolutely painful. I mean I thought the week would have been good because we had a week end without Jack at home and Jazz was in charge of us. Dan and I even got to stay over at Sam’s, much to her mother’s dismay that Danny was going to stay in her room with the two of us. After some convincing on her Grandma Ida’s part, Pamela and Jeremy finally caved after hours of debate. All three of us were up until the early hours of the morning chatting and gossiping. But back to the present: Spirit Week. Every day of the week was a different theme to inspire school pride in the student body. If you ask me we wouldn’t need a spirit week if the school gave us something to be proud of. I mean the only reason we’re even winning something is because of Dash and Kwan. “Danielle! Daniel!” I turned around to see Jazz, as happy as could be. I’m not a pessimistic person, but I’m not optimistic either. I’m a realist. I’m not always looking on the positive side or the negative side. Jazz on the other hand was an optimist. She never quite figured out what happened that day down in the lab and apparently when she got down there we both were just unconscious and in our regular street clothes. “I need to talk to you two. I know the accident the happened in the lab shook you both up but I’m starting to become concerned. You don’t show up on time for curfew, your grades are slipping and you’re sometimes gone in the middle of the night.”

“Jazz, we appreciate the concern but you need to stop acting like our mom. You’re only older than us by 2 years, not 20.”

“Danny, what’s wrong lately? We used to talk all the time.” Jazz looked genuinely concerned but honestly I didn’t like where this was going. I got right up to her ear and hissed at her. “Yeah before we had everything taken from us by the very person who was supposed to protect us.” I slammed the locker shut just before the warning bell rang signaling that class started in five minutes. In English all we were talking about is the pep rally at the end of the week. Jazz stopped by and pulled us out of class. We followed her down the halls to; you guessed it, the councillor’s office. “If you two won’t talk to me then maybe you’ll talk to a professional.” She knocked on the door and as we tried to sneak away she grabbed our shirts, preventing us from going any farther. “You must be Daniel and Danielle Fenton. Your sister Jazmin has told me all about you!” Great, A perky shrink with enough pep for the whole school. This was going to be a nightmare. I walked into the room and felt a chill go over my body before if stopped suddenly. **What the hell? Please say I’m not the only one who felt that.** _If what you felt was a strong chill that suddenly stopped then no._ **Ok. At least I’m not the only one who felt that.** _I wonder why the chill suddenly stopped._ **It’s almost like we have a resistance to cold…** Jazz was talking with the shrink about us but I tuned it out. Honestly I wasn’t going to say anything to this lady so I don’t care what Jazz says our problems are. As soon as Jazz left a little man walked in with a grey mustache and a top hat walked in. “Is it always so cold in here.” I asked through chattering teeth.

“Yup! It keeps the mind icy sharp.” Wow. That wasn’t a lame pun. “Ok can we please turn up the heat in here? It’s freezing.”

“Wow you two do complain a lot. That’s alright Jazz said you two could be a bit whiny.” A look of shock crossed my face and confusion crossed Dan’s. “Jazz said that?”

“Dears it’s not my fault she thinks you’re pathetic.”

“She called us pathetic too…” I felt my eyes sting the way they do when they glow green. I had no doubt that they weren’t glowing right now. I turned my head away from Ms. Spectra and her assistant. Danny looked toward me and gave me a hug just before my knees gave out and I slid to the floor trying to keep the tears back. I felt Danny stroke my hair and whisper to be that everything would be ok. I calmed down after a while only to have Ms. Spectra laugh and in her way too happy voice declare that Jazz was once again right. “You two are co-dependent on each other.” I felt my face heating up and I swear I saw red as my eyes glowed again. I could feel the room getting hotter and hotter as my blood felt like it was boiling. I looked at the ground and saw the ice directly below my feet was steaming as if it was heating up. Danny put a hand on my shoulder and I shivered at the coldness of his hand. When he pulled me in for another hug I started to push him away at beat my fists uselessly against his chest as I felt the tears fall down my cheeks. I was still crying when Danny led us out of there and we walked toward the boy’s bathroom that no one used on the south side of the school. Once in the bathroom I couldn’t hold it in anymore and I started sobbing into his chest. I could hear my sobs echoing in the near empty bathroom. My breath started coming out in hiccups and I balled up his shirt in my fists. “Shhhhh. It’s okay. It’s okay.” I could feel his breath on my ear as he breathed. His voice cracking every other time until he could no longer speak as tear spilled down his cheeks and hit my shoulder. I felt as if my heart had been ripped out. Our ghost sense went off and honestly I was glad. I saw the same ghost that we saw that day down in the lab. Now that I got a good look at her I saw she was dressed like a gypsy, or a harem girl. “So you have wished it, so it shall be.”

“Ok um what? I’ve heard some weird catchphrases but that has to be the oddest one yet.”

“And what is your wish child.”

“That’s none of your business.” A shot of purple ecto-energy hit the gypsy. I looked around wondering where it came from. That was all the distraction she needed to get away. I saw her at the last second, but was too late to stop her.

 

Danny and I decided to skip out the rest of the day seeing as most of the teachers didn’t know we were there anyway. We went off to the peak overlooking Amity Park. I smiled sadly as memories of coming here with Jazz flashed through my mind unwillingly. I sat down on the grass and looked at the tree that was to my right. In it was a deeply carved ‘Jazz, Danny and Dani Fenton/ Forever Family, Forever Loved.’ “Hard to believe that was 5 years ago.” I nodded at his statement, not trusting my voice. I felt more hot tears sting my eyes. I felt Danny’s arms slip around my body and his forehead rest on my shoulder. “Amazing how things change.”

“Yeah. It’s almost like we don’t know her anymore.”  
“Maybe if we let her in, she’ll let us in.”  
“Blaze you know she won’t tell us anything even if we did. She’s the psychologist-in-training remember?”

“I know. But I just want thing to be the same as before. You know, back when we didn’t have to hide anything from her.”  
“We can wish all we want but that won’t change the past. We can only hope for the future. You know she means the best.”  
“She treats us like children.”

“She was forced to surrender her childhood because of us, Blaze. She was forced to grow up long before she had to.”

“I know, it shouldn’t have gone like that, but it did. Just like our mom should have been here to raise us. Just like we shouldn’t have had to know how cruel the world was before we were ten.” I looked at the ground and realized that he was right. Life isn’t supposed to happen that way and yet it does. “Sometimes I wish the pain would go away. That we had never known the kind of pain we have. That things were better than they were, but most of all I want someone to protect us.”

“We do. Our mom watches over us. She protects us.” I stepped out of his arms and wheeled on him. “Then why have we been put through that hell we call life? If the gods actually cared about us we would have been saved a long time ago. They wouldn’t have let our mom die before we knew her!” The red tint flooded my vision again. “I know what you mean but they’d never give us more than we could handle.”

“Well I don’t want to be strong if it means going through this. I would rather be weak and know what it’s like to be wanted, loved, cared for and cared about!” He sighed and walked over to the edge of the cliff. “I would like that too, and someday we’ll find people who care about us for who we are. Everything we are and are going to look past what our past was like.”

“And how long will that take? How long until we find someone who looks past everything we’ve been through and won’t care that we’re HALF DEAD! Daniel when are you going to get that if our own FAMILY can’t love us how the hell is someone else!?” Mixed emotions ran through my mind as I screamed at him. “When are you going to get that we won’t live to be 18? When will that finally sink in? Our fate was sealed that first time he hit us! Our destiny has been set in stone for years! We won’t live long enough to graduate from high school! Danny when will that finally get through your thick skull? Our lives don’t mean anything! They never have and they never will! Us protecting Amity Park; that isn’t going to save us from the gates of the underworld! Our lives were always meant to be short. We’ll be lucky if we live to be old enough to drive. Don’t you get it? We don’t matter to anyone! Not, our so-called father. Not Jazz. Not the teachers. Not even Sam or Tucker!” I turned and ran down the hill and back home. I didn’t stop until I felt the security of the blanket my mom made before I was born. I curled into a ball in the corner, resting my head on my knees and my arms wrapping the blanket close to me. I looked up at the room and realized that everything I said was true. The Fenton twins aren’t special in anyway. No one would notice if we disappeared. No one would care if our heart stopped beating.

 

I woke up when I heard Danny come in the front door. Turning invisible and intangible I phased down to the lab and through the ghost portal. I floated around for a long while until an island came into view that I could rest on for a while. I saw a house on it but decided against knocking. If someone lived there I didn’t want to bother them. And if no lived there I didn’t want to look stupid. I floated up to a tree with branches in one place frequently enough to serve as a hammock. I let my mind wander as I stared at the sky. I thought about all of the ghosts and wondered how they died. Skulker was probably killed in a hunting accident. Maybe shot by a fellow hunter by mistake or maybe he was killed by a bear or mountain lion. Ember; she was probably killed in a house fire or a bombing. The reason she’s so into music is probably because she was an aspiring star and wanted to be the one everyone talked about. I thought about the gypsy ghost I saw today and what she said. Wishes, that’s what she was going on about. She was probably betrayed by someone who promised her everything she wished. Boxy was annoying but maybe in life was a warehouse worker or something. One of the U-Haul people possibly. It made me kind of sad to think of my enemies as once living people. But that’s what ghost were, the remains of a living breathing thing. An explosion brought me out of my thoughts as I tumbled out of the tree. “Well, well. The Whelpette right on my doorstep, what a pleasant surprise. Your pelt will rest at the foot of my bed.” A glowing blade protruded from his arm. He held the blade to my throat. “Any last words?” I looked at the blade that was near my throat, ready to take my head off at a moment’s notice. “What, no snappy comebacks? No ‘tin can’ or ‘Ghost Zone’s worst hunter’” He looked at me confused. “What are you waiting for? You want me dead, so kill me already.” He looked at me with an evil glace in his eyes. “How about we kill you in front of your precious brother?” He dragged me at gun point (blade point?) toward the portal. Once through he forced me to show him where we resided. I phased the both of us through the roof and we ended up in our room. “Danielle.” Just in that one word I could tell he was happy, scared, mad and relived all at the same time. “DANIELLE! DANIEL!” I swore under my breath. And Danny and I started pushing Skulker into the closet. “Hey what are you doing?!”

“Shhhhh! Stay in there and don’t make a sound until we say you can come out.” Just as we got back to the center of the room after shoving Skulker into our closet the door slammed open. “You two…” Jack’s voice was dark and you could almost see the anger that radiated off him. A fist connected with my eye as I saw stars from the force of the hit. His other fist swung at Danny’s right eye with the same sheer force. I collapsed on the ground when I lost my balance. A steel-toed boot hit me in the stomach making me cough up blood onto the floor. He pulled out a knife from his pocket and pressed my face against the wall. With my face turned toward the closet I could almost see the look on Skulker’s face. He was probably mad he wouldn’t get to finish us off. I felt the knife dig into my back and start cutting lines. I felt a tear slip down my cheek as I realized if he cut the right place at the right depth he could cut my spinal cord. Cut after cut bit into my skin as the slashing of the knife kept a rhythm. A hand at the back of my head pulled me away from the wall and them forward. I felt my whole body go numb and unconsciousness threatened to take me; the only thing keeping me awake was the pain I was feeling from Danny. I tried to pick myself up off the floor but to no avail. Another look over toward the closet and I saw Skulker who looked about ready to kill Jack. Sad right? The only one who seems to want to do anything is the same guy who was about to take my head off. Danny was picked up by the front of his neck and lifted off the ground. Jack threw him across the room and then left as Danny was coughing up blood and clutching his torso from broken ribs. “You can come out now.” Every word was painful to say and my voice came out in ragged, raspy breaths. Danny walked over to the closet and opened the door to reveal a Skulker who had a look of horror on his face. I shot a small blast from my finger and he snapped out of it; kind of. He just floated to the door and downstairs to the lab almost like he was in a trance. I grabbed the blanket that was dropped when we shoved Skulker into the closet. I curled up on the mattress that was littered with blood specks and drifted back to sleep.

 

The rest of the week sucked royally. Not so much as those ghosts weren’t showing up. Honestly I would have felt better if the ghost did attack, but they didn’t which had Dan and I on edge for the rest of the week. Vlad showed up on the doorstep again claiming that Jack forgot something at his house. I think he just wanted to see the three of us kids again, the creeper. Jack was thrilled when Vlad randomly showed up and he said that since he missed out on so much over the past twenty years he wasn’t going to miss a single thing from now on and announced that he moved to Amity Park over the weekend. I mean it was cool that Vlad would be around a lot more. It would stop Jack from hurting us much more. Vlad even let all of us stay over at his house for the rest of the week. Dan and I got to stay in the room just across the hall from Vlad. Jack was a few doors down from Jazz who was a few doors down from Vlad. Jack was farthest away from us and I don’t know if that was intentional or if it just worked out that way. I don’t really care which one it was because the more distance between us and him the better. I don’t know what Vlad was up to but honestly I liked it. He made Danny and I feel safe which is way more than I could say for anyone else. Ms. Spectra left at the end of Spirit Week because she only stays for so long I guess. The night of Friday Vlad let us have Sam and Tucker come over for a few hours. That night was plagued by nightmares that bordered horror movie scary.

 

_Darkness surrounded me just like always when I dreamed. “What kind of father are you? The world’s leading ghost expert and you could figure out that your own kids were half ghost!” Blue and purple surrounded me in a vortex ring of death. “Help! Dani, Help us! Don’t leave us to die”_

“ _Daniel let me go at once or there will be consequences.”_

“ _Danny! Why won’t you save us! Forget about the town save your family and friends!”_

“ _You need to save us before it’s too late!” Voice of Jazz, Sam, Tucker and Jack floated around me all calling my brother and I to save them from something._ _You’re running out of time…_ _The words surrounded me in rings similar to the once that shifted our forms. The words replaced the purple and blue fire. The words were in all different colors and styles. The ground started glowing and I looked down to see words being written in blood. It fell downwards and I could read the words_ _ **we are inevitable**_ _written where I previously stood. I looked up and saw a light that I rushed toward. A blinding white light flashed. When the world came into focus again I saw blood painting the streets and body parts everywhere. The world shifted again and then darkness surrounded me once more. “You couldn’t save them.”_

“ _What kind of heroes are you?”_

“ _It’s all your fault they’re dead.”_

“ _Why don’t you get out of here before you cause any more damage?”_  
“Pathetic.”  
“Weak.”  
“Despicable.”  
“Get out of here you vile creatures!”

“ _You’ll spend the rest of your afterlife wishing you never lived in the first place.”  
“You’ve been nothing but trouble since you showed up here!”_

_ **The gods can’t save you now…** _

I was shaken awake by Vlad and Danny. Without thinking I started crying and grabbed onto Vlad. He put his arms around me tentatively and ran his hand up and down my back rubbing the almost healed wounds. It sent small flames of pain through, but I didn’t mind. It was a reminder that I was awake and that I was no longer dreaming.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

***Daniel***

 

Ok I’ve heard of ghost towns but this is ridiculous! Every time I turn around there’s another ghost. I sucked up a ghost squid that was seriously pissed at me for some reason. A scream rang across the empty sky that I recognized as Sam. I met up with Elle on the way there. “Where are all these ghost coming from?”  
“I mean we’ve had busy nights but this is just overkill!” Another scream echoed as we passed over the park. I looked down to see Tucker lying on the ground with PDA’s, cords, and who knows what else scattered on the ground in front of him. I rushed toward him as a huge cobra was about to take a bite out of him. “I wouldn’t eat that. He’s mostly skin and bones.” I pushed against the cobra’s mouth long enough for Tucker to get out of the way. I sucked the snake into the thermos as soon as my hands were free. Sam came rushing up to me and Dani was right behind her. A blue mist escaped her mouth as she was about to say something. A couple on a motorcycle sped past where we stood. “I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that was the ghost.” The girls and I glared at Tucker who was suddenly very interested in his shoes. “Ya think?” Elle snapped right before flying off after the two ghosts. I followed shortly after and we wound up in the middle of a bridge with the two ghosts and a black blob. “Johnny I said no. Is that the only reason you brought us here?”

“Oh come on Kitty. Just once alright?”

“No Johnny! I want to go home!” I turned invisible and floated closer to them. I saw a girl who was dressed like, well a hooker. She was arguing with a blonde haired boy who was sitting on the motorcycle I saw a few minutes prior. The bike itself was black with a white number 13 that was outlined in a red circle. I was about to go up to them when a familiar chill ran through my body and the ever-so-helpful blue mist escaped my mouth. I shot off signaling to Danielle that it was time to go. By the end of the night we had three thermoses full of ghosts. Big ghosts, small ghosts, easy ghosts, hard ghosts… “BEWARE” …Box Ghost. It took all of three seconds to take him out and we let them go in the ghost zone. Jazz came in to give us a hug and a concerned look because it was two in the morning. I stared at the roof of the bedroom and drifted into dream land wishing for a day where we didn’t have to suffer. Like that would happen though.

 

“Hey Fen-toad!” I felt a hand grab my shoulder and roughly shove me against a wall. I was almost safe too. Just a few more meters and I would have been safe from him. “I heard from my buddies that you were talking trash about me.” I looked at him with a terrified expression, not because I was guilty but because I knew he wouldn’t let me say a word. I just gulped and braced myself for the punch that was coming. I opened my eyes a while later find that Dash wasn’t moving. He looked at me questioningly before the bell rang for C block. “You’re lucky this time Fen-toad but you’re going to pay when the last bell rings.” I walked into Mr. Stick-up-the-ass-you’re-a-problem-child-so-you-don’t-get-a-break Foster. “Daniel, you and your sister are late.” He scribbled his name on two of the slips and handed them to us. We took our seats behind Sam and Tucker who just looked at us. I was actually paying attention to our lesson in a war over bananas when a piece of paper hit my arm. 

Danny: What happened to your eye? ~Sam

Sam: Long story short, Dash ~Danny

I continued to vaguely listen to the lesson thinking that Sam would toss it back. When classes ended for the day I grabbed my back pack out of my locker and rushed home. My bag was heavy and it felt like I had a tonne of bricks in it. My backpack landed on the floor with a THUNK as I dropped it off my shoulder. I couldn’t focus on my homework and decided to go on patrol. My ghost sense went off around downtown. I looked down to see a huge green dog. I went up to it. “Ok nice doggy. Let’s go back to the Ghost Zone.” I pulled out a thermos and the dog took off without any warning. “Great. Just when I thought I’d catch a break.” I flew after the dog and grabbed the leash. I put my feet on the ground and tried to slow it down, no luck. The dog turned around and made a move to bite me. Instinctively I let go of the leash to protect myself. Big mistake. As soon as the horse sized mutt saw I wasn’t holding him back anymore it took off toward the outskirts on the north side of Amity. I followed the dog into Axion Labs and hoped to whatever gods that were up there I found this dog before it did any real damage. I phased through the roof and looked around; I shrugged my shoulders just as a green bullet shot passed, knocking my flat on my back. I got to my feet and shot after it. I grabbed the leash again but this time the dog just kept going my flying along like a kite from the thick leather rope. My stomach churned as the dog was going around in circles as if it was looking for something. I managed to suck the ghost into the thermos but not before it totally destroyed the command center of, just my luck, security. The green dog shrunk and started phasing through walls and doors as if it was looking for something. The small green puppy stopped in front of me. I reached out toward the green dog who looked at me with wondering eyes. His tongue flopped out as he panted. I felt the soft puppy fur and a spark shivered through my mind.  
_The room was full of kennels of different sizes, but the only one of them had an animal in it. In a kennel on the floor was a small dog. It was a bit pudgy and had bright blue eyes. The puppy's front paws were black and the legs were white. He also had a white stripe going down the middle of his face. A clang sounded in the room and I turned so see a woman dressed in a security guard uniform followed by a man with a syringe in his hand. The puppy yapped and wagged its tail when the woman picked it up. His entire expression changed as soon as he saw the man and he started growling and barking menacingly. The man backed away for a few seconds before the lady put a muzzle on the puppy's mouth. I saw tears flow down her face as the man pricked the dog with the needle. The puppy started to squirm and tried to escape the woman's arms. She started whispering into the dog's ear as the tears flowed faster. The puppy's tail stopped wagging at it yawned before its eyes started to close. I felt tears flow down my cheeks with realization and the man took the small black puppy from the lady before closing the door behind him._

I jumped back and landed on the floor as I stared at my hand in confusion. What the hell was that anyway? I looked up to see the dog who had his head cocked to the side and his ears listening for danger. I quickly took out the thermos before the dog could change his mind about being near me. I sat on the floor and continued to stare at my hand and the thermos in it. The puppy I saw looked similar to the green one but the bigger dog it could turn into was a mystery to me. I shook my head to clear it, and made myself a little dizzy in the process. Pushing myself on my feet I turned intangible and flew through the roof.

 

“Where have you been? Sam and Tucker said they retired almost an hour and a half ago!” Dani tackle me into the wall as soon as I was solid again. “I’m fine Dani. I just had a little ghost trouble.”  
“A little?! Daniel Viscol Fenton an hour long ghost fight is more than a little problem. I groan at the use of my full name. “Must you use my full name?”  
“If it gets something through that thick skull of yours I’ll use it as much as I need too.”  
“I’m sorry Elle. I should have called you for help. But the weirdest thing happened.” Her eyes stirred a small amount of neon green and I saw the fear in her eyes. “I touched this ghost dog…”

“Ghost dog? Ghost DOG?!”

“Yes. Dog. Anyways the weird thing is that suddenly I was in a totally different room and the dog… I…”

“You, what?”

"I think I saw it die." My eyes stung with unshed tears as the look on the puppy's face flashed through my mind. Arms wrapped around my neck and shoulders as Danielle hugged me and felt the sadness through our bond. A shiver went through us as the ghost sense went off. I started to get up when Danielle used her superhuman strength to keep me down. "Ignore it. Seeing as it's almost one in the morning it's probably just Boxy." I nodded against her shoulder as the tears kept flowing. A knock sounded at the door and Jazz walked in. "Hey, little bro. I see your back. Danny you know I don't encourage this staying out but you should at least tell someone if you plan on being late."  
"Butt out Jazz. I don't care what you do or don't want me to do. Your my sister not my mother."  
"Danny I'm only looking out for my younger brother and sister. You are going through a rebellious phase and I want to be able to help your psychological growth."  
"Jazz if you just going to psycho analyze me then just get out of our room." Jazz frowned and huffed as she walked out of the room. Something soft hit my head as Dani threw pajamas at me. "We should be going to sleep." I slipped off my pants and shirt. The mirror on the other side of the room I saw all the smooth, pale skin of my body. I ran my fingers across my chest and stomach and pictured the scars that should litter my body. I glanced over to my left and saw Danielle's back as she unclasped her bra and let it fall to the floor. Her skin was as pale and clear as mine was and the line upon line of scars that should be imprinted across her body. "Amazing…" I didn't realize I spoke out loud until Danielle turned around with her hair draping over her chest and her shirt on her right arm. "It truly is. Even the scars from before are gone." I felt her hand go across the place faintly outlined with the calligraphic V. The blue spotted mist rose from our mouth and we quickly put on shirts. I looked out the window and saw Skulker just floating there. We shrugged and Danielle shifted to her ghost form. I saw her talking to Skulker her before they both started flying toward me. "Danny, believe it or not he just wants to talk." I raised an eyebrow but refrained for attacking him. "Ghost children."  
"What do you want Skulker?"

"As I told your sister all I want to do is talk."

"About what?" Danielle and I both had a suspicion about that answer but I thought we should ask just in case. "About what I saw the other day."

"Why do you even care anyway Skulker? We've beat you and sent you back to the ghost zone more times than we would ever care to count."  
"But no one deserves to be treated like that."  
"And what do you want to do about it?"

"I'm proposing a truce."  
"A truce? Why?"  
"Yes. I don't give you a reason to send me back to the zone and I will be your ally, so to speak." I looked toward Elle.  **Well?** _I think we should see how it goes. It would be nice to have someone who isn't an enemy._ **But what if it's a trick?** _Then we make sure he'll think twice about it._ "Ok Skulker deal."

"Also how long has it been since you obtained your powers?" I looked at the floor and thought. "Almost two months." We staying chatting with Skulker for a while until the alarm clock went off and we ended up going to school without any sleep. "Remember twins you need to work and try to pay attention in school. Otherwise you won't get into a good college." Elle and I brushed her off as we walk toward Sam and Tucker. "Hey how was patrolling last night? I heard you were out until past midnight."  
"It was fine. Just a few nameless blobs and a dog." Sam and Tucker gave me questioning looks but the bell cut them off as they were about to say something. School after that was relatively uneventful. The only thing that happened was Boxy showed up and after everyone fled we just sucked him into a thermos. Once we got home we went on patrol again.

"I haven't seen anything all day. I don't think that anything is going to show up." A blast shot past me and I whirled around to see a girl in red armor flying on a hi-tech board that would make Tucker drool. "Say good-bye Phantom."

"Which Phantom? News flash there's two of us." Danielle rolled her eyes at the newbie hunter. "Both of you are going down. You ruined my life and now you're gonna pay." Without another word the wannabe ghost hunter fired and was nowhere near hitting us, and we didn't even move. I held back a smirk as she regained her footing on her hover board. Another blast was fired and this time is was more on target. "I'm going to get you Phantoms. If it's the last thing I do." With that she flew off, leaving me and a very confused Danielle behind. "Ok. What was that about?"

"I have no idea. And honestly I don't care. As long as that wannabe is gone I don't care where she went." I shrugged and floated down to the street where Sam and Tucker were just running down the block toward us. "Guys what happened?"

"Oh nothing much. Ghosts a new wannabe ghost hunter tried to kill us. You know the usual." Their eyes widened at the kill us part and we just shrugged and brushed it off. Tucker looked at us with a sad expression as Sam just turned her face away. They saw us die once and it almost destroyed them. I just don't know if they can handle it again.

When we arrived back at home Vlad was sitting in the living room chatting away with Jack. "All I'm saying Vladdy is that if those ghost flies show up again they going to regret showing up in Amity Park in the first place."

"As intriguing as that sounds Jack I really must be going home. It was nice catching up with you after all these years." We rushed up to our rooms before Vlad could leave and we hid in the closet. The door downstairs clicked shut as we waited in fear. A blue mist escaped our mouths and we waited to see if the do to our bedroom would open. The silence was deafening and we dared to look out of the closet. No footsteps, no yelling, no screams, just silence. We transformed to our ghost alter egos and flew out through the roof. Outside we heard screams from downtown. The scene when we got there was gruesome to say the least. And right in the middle of the chaos was a blue vampire like ghost. His hair was styled upwards like horns and he had on a very tacky suit that practically screamed super villain. "You know I thought the Box Ghost was as pathetic as they got, but you. Your just sad. I mean come on you couldn't be more obvious could you?" The vampire turned toward us. "I have no time for children. Now get out of my way." A blast of pink-purple energy shot toward us, which we intercepted with our own blasts of green energy. "Nice trick do you do birthdays?" The vampire glowered at Elle and smirked. "You'll regret that girlie. I am Plasmius and you are nothing but pathetic children trying to play hero." He raised his arms in a cross like shape and then there were two of him. "Let's see how you fair in a real battle." With that the ghost- Plasmius- lunged at us with his hands blazing. We shot blast after blast at the ghost and his duplicate as he knocked us into buildings and the road. "Give up already. You can't win."

"Not a chance fruitloop!" We flew straight at him, tackling him through a billboard and into the ground. "You may have won this battle, but you certainly aren't winning the war. He turned invisible and flew off leaving us beaten, sore and tired. We phased back into our bedroom to try and sleep and heal.

 


	7. Chapter 7

***Danielle***

The gods must hate us. No, seriously they must enjoy watching us suffer. Like a game or something. The days bleed into weeks, and then into months and the more we fought Plasmius the more injuries we received, not even counting what Jack gave us. Plasmius seemed intend on getting rid of us for some reason. If you ask me he's a fruitloop. During one of his rants he was talking about killing off someone and taking his/her kids. Let's just say he's earned his nickname. Ghosts came in and out of the Zone with no rest, and with this new ghost we had our hands full. By now Christmas had come and gone along with the first semester. "Elle you need to pay attention. We have to get this done by tomorrow."  
"But Dan this is so boring. Can't we do a report about what our family is actually like?"

"You know he would shot us if we did. It's not like anyone would believe us. Where's the proof? All the scars are gone due to our ghost powers and Jack puts on the 'bubbling oaf' act whenever someone's around."

 _Vlad knows..._ **He won't vouch for us.** "What makes you say that?! He seems to genuinely care for us!"

"Danielle Arde Fenton no one cares what happens to us. We don't mean anything in this world. Our lives, our deaths, they won't mean a thing. They never have and never will." Tears were falling from his eyes and at the same time he was mad, his fists clenched at his sides and the sides of his body and his jaw locked. I just turned and ran out of the room, throwing the front door open and running down the street. I ran as far as my legs would go until I was out of breath. I pounded my fist into the trunk of a tree. "Why? Why did it have to be us? Why? It could have been anyone, so why us?" My fists pounded into the tree again and again until the green flecked red liquid ran down the trunk and dripping on the ground. "I wish my mom had never died."

"That's a high price, child. I can not save a life without taking another." The gypsy was leaning against a tree to my right as she walked toward me. "I don't care. I just want to know what it's like to be loved."  
"So you have wished it. So it shall be." An eerie green cloud of smoke Drifted over toward me and a white hot burning flared through my body.

I woke up in my bed. Wait bed? I looked around the room and saw it painted with a medium blue lined with an ice blue border. I rushed out of the room and looked around. The hall looked the same and the stairs were lined with pictures. I looked at the frames and noticed something missing; Danny. "Dani? What are you doing up so early. It's only 8 on a Saturday." I whipped around and saw Jazz sitting on the couch. "Wh-where's Danny?" She gave me a quizzical look and then sighed. "We've been over this Danielle, Danny doesn't exist. He's just a figment of your imagination. There is no Danny."

"Of course there is Jazz! He's our brother! My twin!" She set her book down and wrapped her arms around me. "I know it's hard to find out you lost your brother at birth but you need to move on. You've lived this long without him and you can keep on doing it." With that she walked into the kitchen without an other word. I sat on the couch with a thud. Danny was dead... Danny was dead... Danny was DEAD! I realized what Jazz had just said.  _I can not save a life without taking another._  The gypsy's voice echoed in my head. My mom's life for my brother's... I bit my lip and felt a tear slip down my cheek. And the world stopped. Everything around me froze. "No, no, no. This is not supposed to happen." An arrow appeared out of thin air and a blue light formed a circle. "Who...Who are you?"

"I am Clockwork, Master of Time. Your wish has altered the time stream. Do you know the consequences of your actions? No of course not, your a kid, not even 16, you can't possibly understand what you've destroyed. Fine if you can't see what you've done I'll show you." With that he disappeared and time started up again.

The weekend came and went and when I walked over to my closet I was shocked to find nothing but designer jeans, tops and basically things I'd never wear. I shrugged and then picked out a top that had one sleeve and a strap. On it was the signature DP symbol and I wondered why I had something like this. I put on a pair of jeans that flared at the bottom and had chain-link like metal patterns in the indents. I assumed the tears were supposed to be there. I looked in the mirror and smiled at my outfit. I went to the closet again and found a pair of small, black leather boots with a heel and neon green thread along the sides and sole. "Dani time for school." I grabbed my bag and walked down the steps and to Jazz's car. When I got to school, Starr came up to me and hugged me. "Hey Dani! How was your weekend? I wanted to get a hold of you but I was stuck babysitting for my younger brother. Your so lucky your the youngest."

"My weekend was fine I was hanging out with Jazz for a lot of it."

"Ugh you know we should go to the mall after school. I saw the cutest top in Junior Miss on Saturday and I think it would go perfect with the Roxy jeans you bought last week!" Starr chatted the day away and after school I did end up buying that top she was talking about. I walked to where the gypsy was when I made the wish. "Hey! Gypsy! I want to talk with you!"

"My name is Desiree, child."

"Why did you kill off my brother?!"

"I warned you about the consequences. It's not my fault you didn't heed them." I walked over to where she was floating near a tree. "Give me back my brother! I want my brother back NOW!" My voice went high as I screeched at her, tears starting to form. "I can't change that without the price of another life."

"Then I wish it wasn't Danny's life taken in exchange for my mom's. The same white hot burning flared though my body and the darkness of unconsciousness creeped up on me and the world turned black.

"Wake up you lazy bums! It's time for school!"

"Ugh Starr it's too early to be up!"

"School starts in like 20 minutes so you better get ready." Danny and I shot out of bed. I don't know why we even try anymore. This happens every morning. Mom, Danny and I live in the basement suite of of the Walters home for my whole life because of this we're practically family. Starr, Danny and I became fast friends after we moved in. After cleaning up a bit I walked up stairs where Mom, and the Walters were eating at the table. "Anelle! Eel!" The two year old screamed from his high chair and held his hands out. "Well good morning Vaughn!" Danny and I ruffled his hair before grabbing bowls and cereal and sitting down. "Ok crap! Terrors we have to go!" The Twin Terrors is what Mrs. Hailey Walters and my mom called us when we were little. Starr just calls us 'Terrors' when she wants to talk to both of us at once. We both grabbed a piece of toast before heading out the door with Starr. "So how did it go?!" Starr grabbed Danny's arm and squealed. "It was fine, South West. Now your starting to hurt my arm."  
"So is there a second date?" She looked about ready to explode from excitement. "No I don't think there will be. I mean she's not my type. She's too..." He paused as if he was trying to find the right word.

"Unique?"

"Out-Spoken?"

"Depressing. And she kinda acts like a guy. I mean she had me calling her Sam rather then Samantha, Sammi, Antha or any other nickname you could think of. And it kinda seems like she's color blind because she only wears black." Danny looked like he was being serious not that I can blame him. "Don't worry bro. There's so many other girls in the school and the world." I smiled at him as he turned to glare at me. Starr just rolled her eyes at us. "So do we have any plans for today?" Starr asked breaking the silence that settled upon the three of us. See today is Starr's birthday and we've been planning her party for about a month now. We have everything down to the last detail and she doesn't have a clue! "Hmmmm... Let's see, February 23... Nope. No plans. Hey Dani do you wanna see if Valerie want's to hang out after school?"

"Yeah. We can meet at the mall. Grab a bite," I turned around to see a slightly sad expression on Starr as we acted like we forgot. I almost wanted to tell her about her surprise party, almost. "Starr don't wait up for us ok? Unless you wanna come with?"

"No that's ok Danielle. You two go on ahead I think I left my homework on my desk." I smiled like I bought her lie. Ok then. Come on we don't wanna be late." I started jogging away from Starr and just before I turned the corner to school I heard a thump and Starr threw her backpack on the ground, along with her body.  _Don't worry we'll make it up to you. I promise_.

Starr showed up about 15 minutes late but the teacher didn't bat an eye because she was on of the cheerleaders. And after that the day was pretty normal, almost boring because of the lack of ghosts.  _Wait._ _What? Ghosts don't exist. So why...?_ The final bell rang before i could finish my thought and since Danny and I had a spare at the end of the day we raced home to set up for the party. Hailey and Mom were out of town for the whole week at some parenting convention, meaning they took Vaughn with them and we have the house to our selves. Danny took our back packs down stairs while I started moving the table and chairs around the dining room. The table and chairs we moved downstairs where we would be eating cake and watching Starr's all time favorite movie. "Danny you need to start on the decorations."  
"What kind of pattern do you want me to do?"

"Twirl them around back to back. That should look nice. Oh and don't forget to alternate the blue and red napkins around the table. That way it looks balanced."  
"I know how to set a able Danielle. Don't treat me like a child." I set up the present stack nicely with mine and Danny's gift at the bottom. We've been saving up for this gift for about 1 year now. I know it seems like a long time, but we only get $20 a week each, so $40 altogether. A knock at the door made me stop and my breath hitch. As I looked through the peep-hole I saw Valerie, Dash, Kwan, Paulina, and the rest of the football team and cheerleaders. I glanced at the clock before opening he door. 1:45, right on time. "Geez I thought you were Starr."

"That would totally ruin the surprise if it was." Valerie smiled at me. "Need any help?"

"Can you get some of the guy to set up the living room with the banner and balloons?" She nodded and started toward the living room with Dash and Kwan at her heels. I went back to setting up the present room until I noticed that it was almost 2. I quickly grabbed my cellphone and dialled Starr's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Starr."

"Oh hey Dani. What's up?"

"Not much I was just wondering if you could pick up a few things from the grocery store."  
"Oh yeah sure. It's on my way."  _That's what you think._

"Can you get some pancake mix, whip cream, strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips and raspberries?"  
"That it?"

"Yeah I think so. If something else comes up I'll call you."

"Okie dokie. TTYL!" Phase 1: Complete. Commencing Phase 2: Birthday Bash. "Val, hows it going in there?"

"The banners up and we're blowing up balloons."

"Valerie you do know we rented a helium tank for that reason right?" I looked into the living room and saw they had blown up almost every balloon. "Ok... New plan. Dash, Kwan go get the old fishing net from the shed and start putting the balloons in it. Sabrina, I need you, Amanda, Kenny and Nate to rig up a pull line that will release the balloons. Valerie can you get more balloons? One one pack of 12 for each color. That should be enough for the floating one. I'll even out the rest of the balloons here and get the guys to blow up what we wont need to float and they'll become part of the drop net." Everyone took off as soon as I stopped talking. I went and checked down stairs and it was way cooler than I imagined it. The streamers twirled from the breeze that came through the vents and the tassells we hung from old Christmas decorations looked amazing. The room was dark except for the flashing, rotating, color changing, lights we bought when we got Starr's present. The closet below the stair that was supposed to be for our clothes was now empty, save for a few pairs of jeans and shirts for each of us. The light shone off the tassells, creating an effect similar to a disco ball. "Wow..."

"So you like the place?"

"No," His face fell, "I love it!" He looked at me before giving me a hug. "Thanks so how's everything upstairs?"

"So-so. Val didn't see the tank and they blew up almost all the balloons so I sent her out to get 12 more of each. Other than that little set back everything's right on schedule."

"That's good to hear. So where's Starr?"

"I don't know. Call her."

"Fine." He pulled out his phone and dialled Starr before putting it on speaker.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Starr. It's Danny. Just wondering where you are right now."  
"I'm just getting the raspberries from Super Sales. They didn't have any at Ding-a-ling's."

"Oh ok. I was just wondering when you'd be home."

"Well I just walked out of Sales so I should be there in like 5 minutes." I glanced at Danny nervously and he just mouthed 'we'll be fine' before telling Starr that's all he wanted to know and hung up. "5 minutes!? We can't get it done in five minutes! Val still hasn't come back from getting more balloons!" Just as Danny opened his mouth my cell phone started blaring 'I Dare You' from Shinedown, telling me that Valerie was calling.

"We have a big problem. Starr just walked by the store and if I go behind her it wont be ready in time. If I go in front of her she'll figure something's up! I need help."  
"Um, um... ok listen to me. Your at Bargain Box right?"

"Yeah..."

"Duck into StichWorx and I'll text her with some more things to get."

"I sure hope you know what your doing..." Without another word Val hung up on me and I texted Starr.

**Hey SW. Forgot about one** **thing.**

**And what would that be?**

**The mail.**

**Are you serious... -_-**

**Oh come on. Our mags are in** **the mail. Latest issue of 17 :)**

**Ugh. Fine. I feel like I'm** **on a wild goose chase.**

**Why would you think that?**

**Cuz all I'm doing is running** **around town. Later.**

I smiled at the phone. Starr was onto us. She just didn't know she was. I texted Valerie right after saying it was okay for her to come back now. A few minutes later Val came through the door and Danny and I started on blowing up the balloons. As I was tying the end of one Danny was blowing up another. When the balloons were tied we had Val and Sabrina group them one red with one blue and tie them to the small water balloons we covered in shining plastic paper. We placed them all around the living room and basement and them the party looked ready. "Ok everyone this place looks awesome and a huge thanks to all of you but we need to hide so we can yell surprise when Starr come in." Everyone nodded and found hiding places just in time for the lock on the door to click open signalling Starr's arrival. "Dani I have the groceries and the mail."

I yelled from my seat on the back of the couch next to Danny. "Thanks Just put the fruit in the fridge and the mix on the table."

"Yeah, yeah. So anything good on TV?"

"I don't know It's not turned on." Seconds later I heard the clicking of Starr's shoes and she walked across the tile flooring of the kitchen. "Why are you in the dark?" With that she turned on the light and started crying once everyone jumped out. "Oh my god... You did all this just for me?" She ran toward Danny and I making us fall backward on the couch as she hugged us. "Your very welcome, Starr." Danny chuckled at the scene, as did everyone else in the room. She straightened herself up. "Well this is a party right?" The music blared through the speakers and she started dancing and one by one we all joined in.

_Jane: So far..._

_Councillor: And you feel that your relation ship is more..._

_John: Ask the sex question._

_Councillor: Ummm well... ok then..._

_John: [subtle 10 on fingers]_

_Jane: [looks toward him]_

"Wow Starr i didn't know you like those kind of movies. I have to admit though it was really good."

"And now that the movies done we can have cake. So everyone sit down at the table." I walked down the hall leading to the freezer to grab the cake. As I sat there with everyone laughing and chatting away I couldn't help but feel a small tug in the back of my mind telling me that this wasn't right.


	8. Chapter 8

** *Daniel* **

****

Starr's party was a blast, though Ellie looked out of it at times. I guess I'll ask her later. Right now it was 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday. Why I'm up this early is beyond me. Bodies were littering the floor of the basement because of no true sleeping arrangements everyone just slept where ever they could. Ellie and I fell asleep on the couch. I carefully slid out of her grip so I could start on breakfast. She stirred as soon as I was standing and her eyes fluttered open. “What time is it?”

“Like 6:30AM.”  
“Why are you up this early?”

“I'm asking myself the same question.” She smiled and followed me upstairs knowing exactly what I was planning to do. “So you coming or what?” I was already half way up the stairs before I heard her footsteps behind me. It only took about ten minutes for us to burn the eggs and set off the fire alarm, no one was too pleased about being woke up like that. Even so they smiled when they saw us covered in flour from making the pancake batter. At least they weren't too mad. After about an hour we finally had an eatable breakfast ready! Ok so we didn't actually make it but it was the thought that counts, right? Since Starr, Ellie and I still had the whole weekend left we decided to go for a little camping trip. It wasn't a real camping trip but we did have fun and we got to sleep in a tent. Our version of camping was pretty much sleeping under the trampoline in the backyard and cooking s’mores over the fire. Monday came too soon it seemed like and I wish that summer would come already. It was only February and having already been here for almost 6 months I just wanted it to be over. I like school and all but enough is enough. Ellie and I got straight A's in everything, which is better than most. After school I still had that feeling that something was off with Danielle. “Ellie, we need to talk.”

“You sound like you’re going to break up with me or something.” She chuckled lightly and then trailed off. “This is serious Danielle. There's something up and I don't know what.”

“What kind of 'something's up'? The 'Starr's in trouble' kind or the 'Something's wrong with the other twin' kind?”  
“The second one. You've been acting a bit odd lately.”

“Odd? How?”

“You seem... different. Something about your connection to me seems different. Almost like...” Suddenly the basement disappeared and my body was moving on its own accord.

_“Danielle Arde Fenton no one cares what happens to us. We don't mean anything in this world. Our lives, our deaths, they won't mean a thing. They never have and never will.”_

“What the...” I took a step back and blinked in confusion as the grey room disappeared and I was back in the Walters basement.

“What happened? You totally zoned out for a few seconds there.”

“Sorry Ellie. Just.... Never mind it's nothing.” I turned my back on her for less than 3 seconds before I was face to face with the blue-stained-red-orange carpet. “Get off of me you nut!” We both knew that I was just joking, mostly. “Nope. Not until you tell me what that was all about. Or would you rather have me tickle it out of you?”

My eyes widened with slight terror. “You wouldn't....!” I could almost see her smirking with her famous devil-may-care smile as she dared me to 'test that theory'. I wasn't too keen on going into a war without armour, but neither was I wanting to go down without a fight. I felt her muscles relax on my shoulders and struck. I rolled onto my back causing her to hit the floor as suddenly as I did and let go in surprise. “Well played. But what will happen when I decide to get even?”

“Like you could touch me Ghost Girl.” Both of our expressions displayed unmasked confusion. _Ghost Girl? Where did that come from? Ghosts are just fairy tales told to little kids on Halloween._

“Ghost Girl? What are you talking about? It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the space out earlier would it?” I felt my muscles tense for a reason that I didn’t know. “So it does.”  
“I don't know if it does. Earlier it was just a flash of someone yelling. I think it might have been me yelling at you. But we've never really fought before and your middle name is Jean not Arde.”

“Arde? What the hell kind of word is that? It sounds like its Swedish.”  
“Sounds more like gibberish to me. But for some reason it just felt... I dunno, right to call you that.” I turned my head away from her to look at a wall, not wanting to meet her eyes. Ever since yesterday it felt like something was very wrong, not just with Danielle. I felt like the whole damn world was wrong. Without saying anything else I walked up the stairs and out the front door. I didn’t need to turn around to know that Ellie was following me. I didn’t wasn’t going anywhere in particular, I was just going where my feet took me. When I stopped walking I looked around and saw a large brick building. The feeling that something was wrong started to fade a little, and even though I had no idea where I was, it felt familiar. The back on my mind told me the boards on the windows weren’t supposed to be there, and there should be a sign on the building. I walked toward the steps and placed my hand on the doorknob. “I wouldn’t go in there.” The whipped around to see a dark-skinned boy who looked about my age. “What?” I looked at him questioningly. “I said I wouldn’t go in there.”

“Why not?”

“Haven’t you heard about this place? I thought everybody knew about it.” The boy looked surprised. “They say the man who used to live there haunts the place.” Danielle looked at him like he was crazy. “Why don’t you tell us the story then?” Her tone was curious and skeptical. “It’s said that the man who used to live here killed himself. The story goes he lost his daughter in a car accident while they were on their way to see his newborn child and wife at the hospital. He was overcome with grief and one night his wife packed her things and left, taking the baby with her. He was so heartbroken that he hung himself not long after and his spirit, unable to rest, haunts the house to this day.” The boy shrugged and walked away after finishing the story. Both of us turned toward the door and glanced at each other. In unspoken agreement I reached my hand out and turned the door knob. The wooden door creaked open in a way that seemed straight out of a horror movie. “Well that’s not ominous…” I said. The door opened up into a living room with a couch along the wall to my right and a moderately sized TV placed opposite of it and next to a set of stairs. There was an arch that, most likely, lead to the kitchen and/or dining room area. I walked up the stairs to find a hallway with four doors and open the first door I came across on my left. Inside was what looked like a nursery. There were two cribs, one on each side of the room, and in between appeared to be a changing table. The next door on my right was another bedroom. Instead of a crib the bed that was pushed against the wall had a guard rail on it, indicating it probably belonged to a child that was a little older but not quite pre-school age. A large bed in the room at the end of the hall suggested that it was the master bedroom and belonged to the parents. The final door in the hallway was next to the older kid’s room and only lead to a bathroom containing a toilet, sink, and shower lined up along the one side. “This place doesn’t seem haunted. In fact it doesn’t even seem creepy besides the squeaky door.” I had to agree with Elle; other than the layers of dust covering everything it seemed like a normal house. We headed back downstairs and though the arch. Unsurprisingly it did lead to a kitchen/dining room. As I looked around I saw wooden boards hastily placed as though someone was boarding it up. “That’s strange…” I walked over to the part of the wall and as I got closer I could see a doorknob. “Elle, I think I might have found something.”

“How do we open it?” That was a good question. “We’ll need something to pry the nails out of the wall...” Something like a crowbar, or hammer; but we don’t have anything like that. “Will this work?” I turned around and saw Elle standing there with a pair of pliers in her hand. “It’ll have to.” I replied as she handed the pliers to me. Sometime later all the nails from one side of the door lay on the floor and the boards they held up hung useless on the other side. I turned the knob and pulled the door open with the horror-movie squeaking echoing in the old house. I found a light switch just inside the door and flicked it. The darkness that covered the bottom of the stairs disappeared instantly to be replaced by a soft orange-yellow glow. The basement was full of tables covered by white sheets and one side of the room had a large hole surrounded by metal and wires. “What is this stuff?” I looked to where Elle’s voice came from and saw she pulled a sheet off one of the tables, and that underneath the sheet were some weird looking guns, a metal strip with a bright green circle and half a dozen unfinished projects. I looked around the room again curious what else was lying on the tables. I walked over to one of the tables along the far wall when something caught my eye. There was something in the corner of the room farthest from the stairs leaning against the wall. “Elle.” She turned toward me and I pointed. We both made our way over to the sheet and I gripped the dust-covered fabric before yanking it off and throwing it behind me. I felt my jaw drop and my legs felt like jelly as I collapsed on my knees. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, hoping I was imagining it… I wasn’t. Under the sheet was a large neon sign saying ‘FentonWorks’. As soon as I could breathe again I turned and ran out of the house with my mind reeling. _That used to be our dad’s house… He killed himself grieving for… Oh god… We… We had another sibling, an older sister…She died going to see us… How did… Why didn’t…_ I noticed I had stopped running and looked around. I was standing in the cemetery. I dared to glance at the headstones in front of me.

**_ Jazmin Dee Ann Fenton _ **

**_ Beloved Daughter and Sister _ **

**_  March 6th  _ ** **_ 1995 – September 27th _ ** **__ ** **_ 1997 _ **

**_ Gone too soon _ **

****

**_ Jonathan Jack Fenton _ **

**_ Husband, Son, Father and Friend _ **

**_ December 22nd, 1969 – April 20th _ ** **__ ** **_ 1998  _ **

**_ May he be with his daughter in Heaven _ **

“Now you see the consequences of your actions. Everything that happens, happens for a reason. In wanting both your mom and your twin alive two lives are now lost. I’ll give you one last chance to make things right. Don’t screw it up.” The voice flooded my mind before everything went black.

 

I blinked as my mind cleared and I sat up. “You’re awake!” I heard Danielle’s voice seconds before I was tackled by a black-and-white blur.  “I was so worried! Don’t you ever do something like that again!”

“Let him breathe, kiddo.” I was suddenly aware that we weren’t the only ones in the room. As Dani released me I glanced around and standing on the other side of our bedroom was Skulker and Ember. “What are you guys doing here?” The last thing I remembered was a strange voice and then I woke up here. “Your sister was concerned when you passed out for no reason and called for me.” The hunter replied. I shifted my gaze to Ember. “I’m here ‘cause this dipstick-” She pointed her thumb towards Skulker. “-doesn’t have any medical knowledge other than ‘if it’s bleeding put a band-aid on it.’” That still didn’t explain why she was here. As if she could read the thoughts she continued. “So he called me to help.” That actually made a lot of sense. Skulker was a robot so he wouldn’t need medical attention the same way other ghosts did. “Did you figure out why I passed out?”

“Honestly, it could be any number of things with the rough shape you’re in. My best guess would be the malnutrition; you need to take better care of yourself. I may have been pissed you threw me back in the Ghost Zone but that doesn’t mean I want you to destroy yourself.” I looked at the rock star stunned. Why did she give a fuck if I destroyed myself, not that I’m trying to. “I’m not trying to destroy myself.” I mumbled and cast my eyes down.

“Then why can I count your ribs?”

“It’s not my fault.” I suddenly felt self-conscious and pulled my knees to my chest before staring at the floor, but I could still feel her staring at me questioningly. “Why do you care anyway?” Ember walked across the room and knelt down on one knee next to me. “Because I know the look.” She whispered before standing up again and phasing through the floor; Skulker following soon after with a promise to come again later. That’s when it occurred to me -when it really hit me- that the ghosts seemed to be more humane than the humans, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear God! This sat half-written on my computer for like a year now. It was supposed to be done before I went back to school that year, but obviously that didn't happen...... And I don't really have a reason why... It also occurred to me while re-reading this that 14 is too young to be in High School, unless you started Kindergarten when you were 4 so the twins are 15 not 14.


	9. Notice

Hey everyone. I know I have been neglecting this story and for that I have no excuses. In all honesty I have mostly forgotten where I was going with this and I haven't found the motivation to re-plan what I was doing. That being said, I don't want to this to end up another one of the thousands of stories that will never be finished. While trying to finish Chapter 8, I was constantly re-reading the previous chapters and, quite frankly, I'm somewhat ashamed I actually published them. They're very fast-paced and even as I was reading, it was hard to follow at times. As a result I've decided to re-write the previous chapters to make them easier to follow, fix any errors such as forgetting a word, and making it something that's to my satisfaction now. I'm not abandoning this, because I know the one thing I hate more than anything is finding a good story that the author just gave up on. I hope to be done rewriting the first chapter by the end of October, and the whole story by January. I'm going to do my best to get those done on time and keep a more regular upload schedule afterwards. Thanks for sticking around this long and I hope you continue to do so until the end. 

~DarkWarriorProgram (KoolKat SuperStar DareDevil)


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